Technical Assistance Success Stories | EPA #560F22023 February 2022 Planning for Sustainable Brownfield Redevelopment FORMER DUOFOLD SITE - ILION, NEW YORK (EPA REGION 2) FINANCIAL MODEL FOR MIXED-USE REUSE OF FORMER MANUFACTURING SITE SITE STATISTICS • Community: llion, New York • Local project lead: Herkimer County Industrial Development Authority • Former use: Manufacturing site • Future use: Mixed-use development • Brownfields technical assistance: Financial/funding analysis for site reuse PROJECT BACKGROUND Closed in 2001, the former Duofold property is a manufacturing facility where clothes were made using pretreated and pre-dyed materials. The site includes more than 12 acres of land and includes three deteriorated structures. It is owned by the Village of llion, with site reuse support provided by the Herkimer County Industrial Development Authority (HCIDA). The Village and HCIDA are pursuing mixed-use with retail, warehouse, and commercial uses. PROJECT CHALLENGE HCIDA and the Village needed brownfields financial expertise to help them analyze costs associated with cleaning up and repurposing the former Duofold brownfield site and to determine if the community's reuse goals are financially feasible. HOW EPA HELPED In 2021, the U.S. EPA's Office of Brownfields and Land Revitalization (OBLR) provided technical assistance (TA) to support the site reuse efforts of HCIDA and the Village. EPA's OBLR TA team developed a financial modelling spreadsheet to analyze the costs and financial feasibility associated with repurposing the site. • The model analyzed two options for transforming the site into a mixed-use development with housing, office, retail, and warehouse uses: a demolition option and an option to repurpose the main structures (125,000 SF). • The model showed that the costs to redevelop the site into a mixed-use development are significant. Given current market conditions, either option (demolition or repurpose) will require significant funding to fill the financing "gap," which is the difference between the income that the reuse will generate versus costs required to redevelop the site. • Results of the financial model confirmed that the cleanup and redevelopment project will likely be financially feasible based on the potential value of HCIDA's 10-year tax abatement assistance, federal and state historic tax credits, State of New York Brownfield Tax Credits, and benefits from the New York State Brownfield Cleanup Program (BCP). COMMUNITY'S NEXT STEPS • Stabilize the property and prevent further deterioration. • Seek public funding to further the design concepts and implementation of the reuse plan, including the New York State BCP. • Prepare and issue a Request for Expressions of Interest (RFEI) to solicit developer interest in cleaning up and reusing the site. • Consider the opportunity for Moderate-Income or Workforce Housing as a component of reuse. Questions? Please contact EPA Region 2: Schenine Mitchell or Terry1 Wesley Figure 1: Aerial View of the Former Duofold Site ------- |