Land Revitalization Success Stories | EPA #560F23304 April 2022 Planning for Sustainable Brownfield Redevelopment HARLOWTON, MONTANA - HARLOWTON ROUNDHOUSE SITE REUSE DESIGN SITE STATISTICS • Community: Harlowton, Montana • EPA Regional Lead: Greg Davis, davis.areaorv@epa.gov • Site and Use: Redevelop the former railroad Roundhouse and adjacent Foreman's Office building • Technical Assistance: Market Study, Conceptual Site Reuse Design, and Funding Recommendations for the Milwaukee Road railyard site PROJECT BACKGROUND The City of Harlowton inherited the 180-acre railyard property after the Chicago-Miiwaukee-St. Paul-Pacific Railroad went bankrupt in 1980. The city is in the process of cleaning up significant petroleum contamination and planning the reuse of the entire Milwaukee Road railyard. The property includes a Roundhouse (a 15,000 square foot semicircular shaped building used by the railways for servicing and storing locomotives) and the Foreman's Office building. The city is interested in reusing these buildings if possible. The city has also developed a community-led wetland/nature park restoration plan for the heavily contaminated 5-acre refueling area directly adjacent to the Roundhouse. PROJECT CHALLENGES The interior of the Roundhouse and other historic structures contain significant amounts of lead-based paint and asbestos contamination that will need to be cleaned up prior to reuse of the buildings. However, the city has not developed a reuse design for the buildings. Depending on the final reuse of the property, the city is concerned about the operation and maintenance costs associated with building redevelopment. HOW EPA HELPED EPA's Land Revitalization team helped Harlowton by: • COMMUNITY'S NEXT STEPS • Establish a key stakeholder redevelopment group to work with Montana DEQ and SMDC to further refine the plan for reusing the Roundhouse and Foreman's Office buildings, • Form a non-profit organization that can apply for and administer grants for redevelopment and reuse. • Apply for state historic preservation grants and other local, state, and federal resources for site remediation and construction. Preparing a Market Study, which included an analysis of the local market, research into comparable roundhouse redevelopments in other locations, high-level financial analysis, and stakeholder outreach to assess community needs. The Market Study provided several reuse and programming options informed by this research, Working with local stakeholders, Montana Department of Environmental Quality (DEQ), and Snowy Mountain Development Corporation (SMDC) to hold a three-day public meeting and design workshop focused on the brownfields program process and developing conceptual design options for the Roundhouse and Foreman's Office buildings. Delivering a final three-phased conceptual site design and building revitalization study to engage potential developers and city leaders. Developing opinions of probable cost (OPC) estimates for the redevelopment of the conceptual site reuse design to assist with future public and private financing options for the Roundhouse cleanup and redevelopment. Conducting financial analysis to determine potential project revenues and identifying potential sources of funding to assist with redevelopment of the property, ------- |