News Release: City of Kalamazoo Awarded Brownfield Loan for Performance Paper Redevelopment Project

For Immediate Release:
May 9, 2018

Contact:
Mike Gurnee, MDEQ Brownfied Coordinator, gurneem1@michigan.gov, 269-568-1291
Tiffany Brown, MDEQ Public Information Officer, brownT22@michigan.gov, 800-662-9278

City of Kalamazoo Awarded Brownfield Loan for Performance Paper Redevelopment Project

LANSING, Mich. A vacant, contaminated paper mill building in Kalamazoo will be returned to productive use with help from the Michigan Department of Environmental Quality (MDEQ). A $600,000 loan was awarded to the City of Kalamazoo to protect public health and safety and revitalize the historic building, located on Bryant Street.

The brownfield loan will help finance the safe transport and proper disposal of contaminated soil from the site.

400 Bryant, LLC will rehabilitate the historic building into office space for 160 Kalamazoo County Health and Community Services staff. The $9,000,000 redevelopment will create $1,075,702 in new taxable value. The City of Kalamazoo has approved a brownfield plan to help pay for other environmental costs and site and public improvements.

The project area is part of the Allied/Portage Creek/Kalamazoo River Superfund site. Significant state and federal resources have been spent to protect human health, safety and welfare and the environment at and around the project site. Ongoing work in the area includes Alcott Street dam removal and floodplain and creek restoration.

The MDEQ partners with communities to protect public health and the environment and revitalize contaminated property. MDEQ grants and loans pay for environmental investigation and cleanup on brownfields. Brownfields are vacant or abandoned properties with known or suspected environmental contamination.

Partnerships between MDEQ and communities have created $4 billion in private investment and 29,000 new jobs over the life of the Brownfield Redevelopment Program. For each grant or loan dollar invested by the MDEQ in protecting residents and the environment, an average of $23 is invested in the state’s economy. When brownfields are redeveloped, property values increase both on the revitalized site and on other nearby properties. Learn more at www.michigan.gov/deqbrownfields.

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