A Brownfields Success Story –  Redevelopment of an Abandoned Contaminated Manufacturing Facility into a State-of –the-Art Warehouse in 12 months

Timothy W. Kemper, LSP, PE, Shaw Environmental, Inc. 88C Elm Street, Hopkinton, MA 01748, Tel: 508-497-6162; Fax: 508-435-9641, Email: Tim.Kemper@Shawgrp.com

This paper describes a successful Brownfields project during which an abandoned manufacturing facility in Worcester, Massachusetts was remediated and transformed into a modern warehousing operation. The project involved comprehensively evaluating the environmental conditions at the former manufacturing facility, completing an environmental risk assessment, conducting limited remediation under the Massachusetts Contingency Plan (MCP) and cooperation with City and State officials to restore the property for productive reuse.

Shaw Environmental & Infrastructure, Inc. (Shaw E & I) assisted a manufacturing company expand their operations in Worcester, Massachusetts by conducting necessary environmental activities on an adjacent, contaminated parcel to support redevelopment of this Brownfields property. The project resulted in the following benefits to our customer and their community:

• Successfully redeveloped an abandoned adjacent former industrial building into an active warehouse facility

• Expanded operations of the manufacturing company within the city limits and increased corporate revenues without relocation

• Created additional permanent skilled jobs resulting from the new and expanded warehousing operations

• Comprehensively evaluated the environmental conditions present at the contaminated parcel and demonstrated that the chemical concentrations associated with former industrial activities conducted at the site did not pose a significant risk to the nearby neighbors or potential on-site workers

• Removed the environmental stigma that had been associated with the property for over twenty years and had previously prevented site redevelopment

• Assessed value of the property increased by 300 percent due to the elimination of the environmental stigma

• Increased tax revenues to the city as the parcel was returned to productive re-use after sitting abandoned for two decades.

Prior to purchase of the adjacent two-acre parcel, Shaw E & I conducted a MCP Phase I Initial Site Investigation on the property to evaluate existing site conditions on behalf of the prospective buyer. This information was used to identify potential assessment and remediation costs associated with future property redevelopment. Funds were placed in escrow to handle planned environmental activities and the property was purchased at a deep discount well below the assessed market value.

Within 12 months, the contaminated property with an abandoned industrial building present was converted into a state-of –the-art warehousing facility employing numerous workers. This project was made possible due to a well-defined environmental regulatory program in Massachusetts with specific risk-based end-points, the foresight of an innovative Worcester business and the cooperation of City and State officials who are dedicated to making Brownfields projects work to return impaired properties to productive reuse.

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