Creating a Book Nook Pocket Park

Site Reuse Design for the Former Baron Radiator Site in Ashland, Wisconsin

Project Summary

Community: Ashland, Wisconsin
Technical Assistance: Site Design
Former Use: Radiator Service Company
Future Use: Public Space

Ashland, Wisconsin is located along the picturesque
Chequamegon Bay in Lake Superior. The town boasts
a historic downtown core, complete with a recently
renovated Vaughn Public Library on the city's main
street. The Baron Radiator site is just 7,000 square feet
adjacent to the back of the library and across from a
multiblock civic complex including the Ashland
Enterprise Center, a community center, and the offices
for Parks and Recreation Department. The site was
previously used for servicing radiators and various parts
but has been vacant for the last decade. The City of
Ashland purchased the property from private ownership
in 2022 with the intent to redevelop the property.

The Community's Challenge

The City of Ashland has explored ideas to better utilize
the Baron Radiator site with its prominent downtown
location to bring additional public space to the
community and link together several smail pocket parks
that already exist downtown. The community requested
assistance to understand the options for redeveloping
the site to balance economic development opportunities
with potential programming expansion from the
adjacent library and Parks and Recreation Department.

book motif to provide separation from other adjacent
residential parcels and provides a unique and
memorable sense of place. The plan also identifies
options to reuse the building on site as a food and
beverage service venue to add potential revenue and
provide long-term maintenance and operations on site.
Finally, the plan also incorporates sustainable elements
to improve the climate resiliency of the park, including
suggestions for LEED certification for the existing
builidng and options for green infrastructure on site.

Two phases of public space upgrades are provided in
the plan to illustrate the necessary and enhanced
design options, depending on the availability of funding.

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Rendering of the Proposed Vaughn Library Literary Park

For more information, contact Sarah Gruza, EPA
Region 5 Brownfields Program, at

qruza.sarah@epa.gov.

EPA's Land Revitalization Technical Assistance

In 2022, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency
(EPA) Land Revitalization Program provided contractor
technical assistance to develop a site reuse plan for the
Baron Radiator Site. This plan describes the
redevelopment of Baron Radiator into a Literary Park,
serving as a physical resource for the library as well as
a gathering place for the community. Calling on its
adjacency to the library, the park's design weaves in a

United States
Environmental Protection
M % Agency

Office of Brownfields and Land Revitalization
560-F-23-320

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