Chicago, IL is Restoring An Industrial Employment Center The Kinzie Industrial Corridor in Chicago, Illinois, is located one mile west of Chicago's famous Loop and stretches for about six blocks along Lake Street. After World War II, the west side area was a thriving industrial hub that brought employment opportunities to area residents and supported considerable commercial activity. Since race riots rocked the City in 1968, the area has been in decline, as properties were gradually abandoned and residents fled to the suburbs. As you would suspect from a 40-year old industrial corridor, Kinzie was brownfield central. Chicago has undertaken a major initiative to revitalize the Kinzie corridor area. A key element of Chicago's strategy includes acquiring former manufacturing parcels, usually taken for back taxes, that adjoin sites the City already owns, which are adjacent to the Chicago "El" transit system and bus lines. Ultimately, the City is seeking to assemble a 70-acre tract that could be used to meet modern manufacturing needs and retain and expand the number of high-wage, high-benefit jobs available within the central city. As part of this commitment — ¦ The City is using $4 million in HUD resources — CDBG and Section 108 loan guarantees — for brownfield-related activities in the Kinzie corridor area, including site acquisition, environmental testing, site cleanup, and demolition. The City is also helping to clear property titles. ¦ Chicago is making significant infrastructure improvements to make it more suitable to modern manufacturing. This investment includes street improvements and enhanced site access, a portion of which is funded through the City's share of state allocated Department of Transportation funds. ¦ The City is closing streets and alleys as needed in order to assemble larger tracts to accommodate manufacturers' acreage needs — scrapping the traditional grid pattern to meet modern space needs. A planned streetscaping project along Lake Street will make the site more attractive from the adjacent El line, as well as providing an aesthetic buffer for nearby commercial and residential areas. ¦ The City is aggressively marketing various financial incentives to new users of corridor sites. These include federal empowerment zone and brownfield tax incentives, state enterprise zone incentives and financing programs, and a Chicago tax increment financing district. ------- Public sector involvement has been critical to jump-start the reuse process and help move it through its critical, make-or-break early phases of site investigation and cleanup. The City has also assembled sites and linked site owners to state and federal assistance programs and incentives. The Kinzie Corridor project connects community program planning and spending with brownfield needs. For example, brownfield projects are being creatively coordinated with public works initiatives, including transportation projects, job training, and commercial developments. City and county public works spending is being carried out in ways that complement this new community development strategy. New developments in the Kinzie corridor, like many emerging brownfield projects, are tailoring clean- ups to meet site end use, whether it be industrial, commercial, or residential standards. This approach is becoming more popular as institutional controls, such as ground water ordinances, gain more credibility with states, communities, and private owners. The results to date in the Kinzie Corridor are impressive. A long time corridor occupant, the Northern Greenhouse Company, will expand its existing wholesale landscaping business onto an adjoining parcel, providing 40 new jobs. Northern Greenhouse has also been retained by the City to do the landscaping component of the Kinzie Corridor buffer, which will help keep the dollars spent on the revitalization within the Kinzie community. Another existing corridor business, Standard Equipment, is expanding and modernizing its operations. The company will use 14,000 square feet for a truck and Zamboni maintenance facility (with the latter serving the nearby United Center Arena). That $1.5 million investment will generate several new jobs. The City is also working to help develop new business opportunities in the corridor. Clearwater Fisheries, a new occupant in the corridor, is constructing a 3 1,000 square foot building for seafood processing and distribution. The company's $6.5 million investment will create more than 50 new jobs. In addition, the Spire corporation is locating a solar photovoltaic factory in the corridor that will manufacture and locally install solar electric modules and systems. The factory is the result of a partnership between Spire, Chicago's Department of Environment, Commonwealth Edison and the U.S. Department of Energy. The City has committed to install environmentally friendly solar electric systems on public buildings, schools, and transportation facilities throughout the Chicago area. (See the related profile of the Chicago Green Building Center in the Green Buildings section of this toolkit.) Commonwealth Edison will purchase $6 million worth of the company's Solar products as part of its agreement with the City to invest in renewable energy technologies. Contact: Kimberly Worthington Chicago Department of Environment 312-744-9139 kworthington@cityofchicago.org ------- Recycling Land for Recycling's Sake Spartanburg, SC When Carolina Recycling Group, LLC (CRG) opened its Nazareth Church Road plant in 1997, it became the first company in South Carolina to successfully return a site to productive use under the State's brownfield program. The Batchelder Blasius plant first began aluminum recycling and smelting operations in 1966. When it filed for bankruptcy in 1990, this facility left behind mounds of slag and ash, more than 600 drums of used oil, seven unclosed underground storage tanks, and 27 above ground tanks containing more than 40,000 gallons of chemical waste and processed oil. With no assets to maintain the property, the Batchelder Blasius Company abandoned the maintenance of the 5-acre landfill that it had used to dispose of magnesium chloride and slag waste (a smelting byproduct). A Site Screening Investigation by the South Carolina Department of Health and Environmental Control (DHEC) in the following months also detected elevated levels of ethyl benzene and chloromethane derivatives and heavy metals in groundwater and soil samples. Despite the extensive contamination, CRG expressed interest in purchasing the 42-acre abandoned property. Since it had been home to a metal processing facility for 24 years, the site offered the infrastructure necessary to accommodate CRG's industrial needs. The property was strategically located near interstates and sat directly on a main CSX rail line. The old Batchelder Blasius furnace building was ideal for protecting scrap from the rain. Four acres of concrete along with a double lined collection system attached to an oil water separator were already in place. In 1996, CRG became the first party to negotiate an agreement through South Carolina's Voluntary Cleanup Program (VCP). This arrangement protected CRG from being held liable for the contamination that existed at the site at the time of purchase. In exchange for this safeguard, CRG agreed to contribute to the cleanup of the contaminated property. Among the requirements outlined in the VCP contract were: (I) the maintenance of the landfill cap and replacement of soil and vegetative cover in needed areas; (2) the closing of seven underground storage tanks (USTs) in accordance with DHEC UST regulations; (3) the removal and proper disposal of the oil from an abandoned oil tanker; and (4) the preparation and implementation of a groundwater sampling plan that will monitor levels of contamination in existing and new monitoring wells. The Carolina Recycling Group spent approximately $1.5 million to assess, remediate, and renovate the property. The corporation received assistance from South Carolina DHEC, Carolina First Bank, the Southeastern Regulatory Resolution Alliance-a Department of Energy Program, Spartanburg County, and the Southeastern Environmental Resource Alliance. Thanks to these strong partnerships, CRG finished the bulk of the cleanup and redevelopment in 1997, more than a year ahead of schedule. CRG now enjoys the benefits of a state-of-the-art, environmentally friendly metal processing and recycling facility. Turnings and other oily scrap are completely under roof. Oil and other liquids are ------- collected by a double lined collection system in the floor of the building, which is attached to an oil water separator and treatment system. All liquids entering this system are recycled as fuel or primary wash water for equipment. More than four acres of concrete and 80,000 square feet under roof, allows for the storage and processing of material without coming into contact with the soil. In 2000, CRG received a prestigious Phoenix Award for its innovative approach to brownfield redevelopment. Since the remediation, the CRG's annual sales have grown from $15 million to approximately $93 million in 2003. The company has added seven additional operating locations throughout the Southeast and a total of 235 employees. The operations recycled more than 478,929 gross tons of ferrous and nonferrous metals in 2003. Because of the success of the Spartanburg project, CRG decided in 2002 to invest more than $10.5 million in new processes on the brownfield site. This success has encouraged others to consider Brownfield redevelopment. Since working with CRG, the South Carolina DHEC has entered into 64 additional Voluntary Cleanup Contracts with non-responsible parties. These agreements will help preserve South Carolina's open space and bring economic vitality back to urban areas. Contact: Karen Sprayberry Division of Site Assessment and Remediation South Carolina Department of Health and Environmental Control 803-896-4252 spraybkj@dhec.sc.gov ------- Revitalizing Southeastern Communities A Brownfields Toolkit Meriden, CT is Clearing the Way for Modern Manufacturing Meriden, Connecticut, is a city of 58,000 that is facing significant economic development challenges as businesses in the local manufacturing industry have closed or scaled back operations. However, the City has found success by marketing the brownfields sites left behind to new or expanding businesses like the Tl Automotive Corporation (formerly known as Walbro Corporation). When this company was looking to expand, the City of Meriden, with the assistance of the Connecticut Department of Economic and Community Development (DECD), put together a diverse package of assistance and incentives to convince the company to stay in Meriden and expand onto a brownfield site. In the 1980s, Meriden Rolling Mills Industries, Inc. closed its doors and abandoned its industrial facilities complex, built in stages and owned by several different manufacturing businesses during its 125 year history. The site sat idle for several years until the Tl Automotive Corporation, already operating in Meriden, began looking for a site to expand its production facility. The Meriden Rolling Mills Site was adjacent to Tl Automotive's existing facility and a great candidate for expansion. However, the 10.75 acre site, which was covered with 180,000 square feet of buildings, was heavily contaminated with the residue of more than a century of manufacturing: petroleum hydrocarbons, PCBs, trichloroethene, metals, lead, volatile organic compounds, pesticides, and cleaning fluids. Despite the widespread contamination, the City was able to bring together a variety of partners to clear the site, remediate it, and make it an attractive option for Tl Automotive's expansion. State support was critical to the success of this effort. An initial $200,000 site investigation was financed by the Connecticut Department of Environmental Protection (CDEP). The State DECD provided planning funds to assemble 15 acres, comprised of the main complex, a former employee parking lot, abandoned railroad siding, a scrap metal yard and nine adjacent residential properties. The assessment revealed that significant work had to be done to prepare the site for redevelopment, including demolition of the old factory buildings and the removal of 46,000 tons of contaminated material. Building demolition and asbestos removal was financed mainly with $4.5 million from the DECD's Economic Development and Manufacturing Assistance Act funding program. Of the $7 million in site cleanup costs, $6 million came from CDEP and the other $1 million was retained by CDEP for use on pre-demolition assessment and cleanup. Connecticut's Urban Sites Remedial Action Program paid for most of the soil and groundwater remediation and established the remediation standards for the new manufacturing use. DECD provided an additional $5.4 million for ------- construction of the new building and purchasing new machinery and equipment, and Meriden contributed an additional $500,000 of inducements. In addition to funding, Connecticut addressed Tl Automotive's concerns about contamination liability by providing the company with a "covenant-not-to-sue" letter, which was critical to the company's willingness to expand on the site. Once the site was clean and shovel ready, it was transferred to Tl Automotive in early 1996 and the new plant was completed in less than a year. The new Tl Automotive plant cost $16.5 million to build, and $4.6 million to equip. Overall, the project has leveraged $ 32 million in private and public investment. The new Tl Automotive facility is a state-of-the-art 150,000 square foot building with a work force of 660, which represents Meriden's demographic diversity: 42 percent of the workers are minorities and 39 percent are women. The new plant employs almost double the number of workers in R&D, molding and assembly, materials management and administration than before the expansion. Meriden and the State of Connecticut are seeing substantial benefits from this project and their investments. By 2009, the plant is projected to have a $38 million total annual payroll, employ 900 workers, and generate an additional $8 million in sales and income taxes and $10 million in gross real and personal property taxes over the facility's pre-expansion levels. Meriden and the State of Connecticut have demonstrated that manufacturing operations can survive and even thrive when modernization efforts are appropriately seeded — and that this process can be successfully carried out in spite of brownfield considerations. Contact: Dimple DeSai 860-270-8151 dimple.desai@po.state.ct.us ------- |