Celebrating Success:
Kansas City Structural Steel
Kansas City, Kansas
&EPA
Superfuncl
Redevelopment
Initiative
"The real test for projects like this one is
whether residents feel like, when it's done, their
neighborhood is a better place to live than it was
before. This project meets that test in every way."
Ann Murguia, Executive Director of the Argentine
Neighborhood Development Association
For more information, please contact
Melissa Friedland at
friedland.melissa@epa.gov or (703) 603-8864
or Frank Avvisato at
awisato.franlc@epa.gov or (703) 603-8949.
For more than a century, smelting and steel fabrication at the
Kansas City Structural Steel site (the Site) contaminated soil
and groundwater with heavy metals. After cleanup in the 1990s,
collaboration between EPA and local stakeholders transformed
this once hazardous waste site into a new grocery center with
61,000 square feet of commercial opportunity for the Argentine
neighborhood in Kansas City, Kansas.
Smelting and steel fabrication industries operated on the Site from
1880 until the 1970s. These activities contaminated the soil, leading
to EPA cleanup at the Site. Cleanup activities included demolishing
vacant structures, and consolidating and placing a remedial cap
over contaminated soil.
El Centro, a local nonprofit that aims to improve the lives of Latinos
and strengthen communities, worked with EPA in the 1990s to acquire
the property and seek out reuse opportunities. Throughout the years,
El Centro met many obstacles to site redevelopment, including
uncertainty about site development restrictions and appropriate
uses acceptable to the surrounding residential community.
Then, in 2013, the real estate group Lane4 Property Group expressed
interest in developing a grocery and retail center at the Site. EPA
worked to provide El Centro, Lane4 Property Group, the State of
Kansas, neighborhood groups and the developer with the tools to
move toward reuse of the Site. These included modification of land
use restrictions that were part of the cleanup, enrollment in the
Kansas Environmental Use Controls program, and transfer of EPA
covenants not to sue to the new owner. This allowed construction
to proceed while maintaining and enhancing the soil cap at the Site.
After several efforts over the years searching for redevelopment
acceptable to the local community, the Lane4 Property Group
broke ground at the Site on "La Plaza Argentine" in March
2014. This development brings affordable food options as well as
economic opportunities for the Argentine neighborhood through
a new Walmart grocery store and development pads for additional
retail. The grand opening of La Plaza Argentine took place in
September 2014. EPA also recognized reuse efforts by Walmart
and the Argentine Neighborhood Development Association by
awarding the parties with Region 7s Leading Environmentalism
and Forwarding Sustainability award (LEAFS). Plans for further
productive reuse of the Site are currently being supported by EPA
and the local community.
March 2015
Buildings at the American SmeSting and
Refining Co. site, 1900. (Source: Kansas
Citv Public Library)
Walmart
Neighborhood Market

-------