Technical Assistance Success Stories | EPA #560F23298 March 2022 Planning for Sustainable Brownfield Redevelopment STILLMAN COLLEGE - TUSCALOOSA, AL - (EPA REGION 4) SITE STATISTICS • Community: West Tuscaloosa, Alabama • Local project lead: Stillman College • Former use: Dormitory buildings (King and Williams Halls) • Future use: Vivian Malone Jones YWCA at Stillman College • Brownfields technical assistance: Funding/financing analysis for site reuse PROJECT BACKGROUND With fewer than 1,000 students, Stillman College, a Historically Black College or University (HBCU), is exploring opportunities to increase enrollment and foster a deeper connection to the surrounding community. The college's King and Williams dormitories are vacant and unusable due to asbestos contamination that is being addressed through an EPA assessment grant. Given its location, Stillman College has determined that the site is ideal to develop a Young Women's Christian Association (YWCA) recreation and fitness facility that can be used by students and local residents. PROJECT CHALLENGE The College needed help to understand the project construction costs and the estimated operating profit/loss of the proposed YWCA to determine strategies for project financing. HOW EPA HELPED In 2021, the U.S. EPA's Office of Brownfields and Land Revitalization (OBLR) provided technical assistance (TA) to support Stillman College by: • Creating a building program, which was then refined through collaboration with Stillman's architects and staff, • Preparing a development and construction budget. • Developing an operating pro forma (to analyze anticipated revenues and expenses) for the first year of operations. • Estimating funds that may be available from New Market Tax Credits and other conventional funding sources. Figure 2: Rendering of Proposed Recreation and Fitness Facility • Preparing a Sources and Uses Analysis document that identifies the remaining project funding gap. • Providing a financial model that combines the operating pro forma and sources and uses analysis (this tool can be used to evaluate the project with potential partners). COMMUNITY'S NEXT STEPS • Use the TA products to support the YWCA design process, specifically, to consider phasing of the project construction to attract additional financing sources and/or to provide additional time for fundraising efforts. • Complete a market and operations feasibility study and use the TA products to inform future financing decisions for the project. The development and operational budgets can be updated as design and development activities progress. Questions? Please contact EPA Region 4: Camilla Warren or Olqa Perry Figure 1: Entrance to Stillman College ------- |