From: U.S. EPA
[mailto:usaepa@govdelivery.com]
Sent: Monday, October 22, 2007
10:54 AM
Subject: Superfund &
Brownfields News (Region 5): EPA honors six Great Lakes
communities for brownfields efforts
CONTACT: Mick Hans, 312-353-5050, hans.mick@epa.gov
Karen Thompson, 312-353-8547, thompson.karen@epa.gov
FOR IMMEDIATE
RELEASE
No. 07-OPA188
EPA honors six Great Lakes communities
for brownfields efforts
CHICAGO
(Oct. 22, 2007) - U.S. Environmental Protection Agency Region 5 today
recognized six communities in the Great Lakes states for successful efforts to
transform once-blighted brownfields properties into productive economic assets.
Environmental
and development officials in Chicago; Indianapolis; Eaton County,
Mich.; St. Louis Park,
Minn.; Hamilton,
Ohio; and Milwaukee were recognized for outstanding
leadership and commitment to excellence in locally based brownfields programs.
The
honored projects include:
Chicago. The city
was honored for continued good work on brownfields efforts, highlighting three
projects: (1) the Chicago
Center for Green Technology, established at a former illegal construction
debris site at 445 N. Sacramento
Ave. CCGT is a showplace and teaching center
for green technology; (2) replacement of an abandoned auto repair business at
3701 W. Ogden Ave. with the Jubilee Family Resource Center, which serves 200
children; (3) Transformation of a former carriage and auto manufacturing
property at 76th Street and South Parnell Avenue into Parnell Place, which
provides daycare and programming for foster children and their families.
[Contact: Dave Graham, Chicago Department of Development, 312-744-3639.]
Indianapolis. Indianapolis was
recognized for an innovative community-wide assessment of brownfields in
the Bruce's Place, Fall Creek
Place and Martindale-Brightwood neighborhoods. As
a result, 25 new homes have been built and dozens more are under
construction. Noting this success, the area-wide approach to assessment
is now being utilized by a number of not-for-profit community development
agencies in Indianapolis.
[Contact: Christopher Harrell, Indianapolis
Brownfields Redevelopment, 317-327-5845.]
Eaton County, Mich. The county seat of Eaton
Rapids, near Lansing,
leveraged an EPA brownfields assessment grant to renovate two downtown
properties and spur development of 40 units of new housing. This momentum
has also led to a recent upgrade of a recreational trail along the nearby Grand River. [Contact: Jonathan Greene, Eaton County
Economic Development, 517-543-3740.]
St. Louis Park, Minn. Remediation at the former NL
Industries/Taracorp/ Golden Auto Superfund site in this Minneapolis suburb was completed in 1995.
Recent redevelopment efforts by a group of state and local partners including Hennepin County and the Minnesota Department of
Employment and Economic Development, supported by a low-interest loan
capitalized with an EPA brownfields revolving loan grant, will generate more
than 350 new jobs at the 10-acre property. [Contacts: David Jaeger, Hennepin County Environmental Services,
612-348-5714, or Kristin Lukes, MnDEED, 651-296-1149.]
Hamilton, Ohio. A suburb of Cincinnati,
Hamilton was
home to Mosler Safe for more than 100 years before it closed in 1996. In 2003, Hamilton was named a
Federally Designated Renewal Community Area and then received $2.3 million in
Clean Ohio revitalization funds, along with a $500,000 EPA brownfields
revolving loan fund grant to clean up the site. Today, the former Mosler
property contains a grocery store and a number of smaller retailers, generating
more than 100 new jobs. [Contact: Melissa Johnson Gabbard, Hamilton Economic
Development, 513-785-7070.]
Milwaukee. A
tax-delinquent dry cleaner at 2121
S. Kinnickinnic Ave. acquired by the city in 1989
was found to be contaminated. Utilizing a brownfields cleanup grant in
2004, the site was returned to safe and useable condition and sold to a developer.
Today, a new building at the site houses 21 condominiums and five retail
spaces. [Contact: Karen Dettmer, Milwaukee Redevelopment Authority,
414-286-5642.]
See
more information about the EPA Region 5 brownfields program at http://www.epa.gov/r5brownfields.
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