Hemisphere
Development LLC | Consulting
CASE
STUDY: Stickney West Industrial Park
STICKNEY WEST: FROM WORST TO BEST
Innovative
solutions and creative financing have transformed one of Ohio's
worst contaminated properties into what the U.S. Environmental
Protection Agency has cited as one of the country's best brownfield
redevelopments. Stickney West Industrial Park, located in Toledo,
Ohio, is a prime example of the results Hemisphere can deliver
through its expertise in bringing new economic life to brownfield
sites.
Jeep Plant Expansion Sparks New Interest
Nestled between three closed municipal solid waste landfills with
significant environmental problems of their own, the 112-acre
Stickney West site was the former location of a bankrupt fertilizer
manufacturer that had abandoned its operations in the late 1980s.
Subsequently, the property was acquired and operated as an unlicensed
junkyard that the city of Toledo had been trying to close for
nearly 10 years. Environmental issues at the site included 75,000
cubic yards of contaminated soil, potential impact from the adjacent
Superfund landfill sites, 400 barrels of unidentified hazardous
materials, 250,000 scrap tires, 50,000 railroad ties, numerous
above-ground and underground storage tanks, a manufacturing building
constructed entirely of transite asbestos, mountains of scrap
vehicles and illegally filled wetland areas.
Following many years of economic disinvestment, the area received
a boost in 1999 when DaimlerChrysler announced its plans for a
$1.2 billion expansion of its existing Jeep plant about a mile
from the Stickney West site. Hemisphere realized that the property's
potential value would increase tremendously if the environmental
issues were addressed successfully.
Developing Visionary Solutions
Working with the city of Toledo, Hemisphere secured a $200,000
U.S. EPA Site Assessment Grant to perform due diligence and identify
the full extent of contamination. The U.S. EPA also contributed
approximately $300,000 of in-kind analytical services to complement
the grant. Due to budget constraints, the city was unable to dedicate
significant funds to the project. However, when the city needed
approximately 30,000 truckloads of soil to cap one of the contiguous
city landfills, an agreement was reached to use soil from Stickney
West to cap the landfill, saving millions of dollars in costs
for both projects and reducing wear and tear on the city's streets.
The resulting 20-acre cavity, formed through the excavation of
approximately 550,000 cubic yards of soil at Stickney West, is
being used as a construction and demolition debris landfill, designed
to accommodate future light industrial redevelopment at the end
of the landfill's useful life.
An innovative financing strategy ensured that the redevelopment
project's risks were balanced with anticipated returns. In addition
to the U.S. EPA funding, Hemisphere secured a long-term $2.5 million
low-interest loan from the Ohio EPA's Water Pollution Control
Loan Fund. Hemisphere also was the first developer in the country
to take advantage of a new U.S. EPA policy that allows funds from
environmental penalties to be used for brownfield projects. Through
negotiations with the city of Toledo, the U.S. EPA and the U.S.
Department of Justice, Hemisphere was able to secure a $500,000
Supplemental Environmental Project grant from a $1.2 million penalty
the U.S. EPA had imposed on the city in connection with the settlement
of a wastewater treatment plant case.
Environmental and Economic Benefits
During the interim, Hemisphere will develop the contiguous closed
landfill and non-landfill properties into an industrial park for
the new Jeep plant. The industrial park, once fully developed,
will accommodate up to 1 million square feet of new industrial
space, bringing significant employment opportunities and new investment
to the area. The project will serve as a catalyst in redeveloping
this highly distressed section of north Toledo. Already, as a
result of the remediation of the junkyard and fertilizer manufacturing
sites, as well as the closure of the municipal landfills, water
quality in Sibley Creek and Ottawa River - tributaries of the
Maumee River and ultimately Lake Erie - has improved. The removal
of scrap tires eliminated a major fire hazard and removed the
risk of a potentially significant release of hazardous materials
into the Ottawa River. Thanks to the cooperation of the city and
Hemisphere's expertise, an area that once was both a public nuisance
and environmental liability is being transformed into an economic
asset.
