Clean scene
A program designed to rehabilitate potentially contaminated buildings got a big thumbs up from national leadership recently. In November, Andrew Wheeler, the administrator of the Environmental Protection Agency, paid a visit to Little Rock to tour sites that have been rehabilitated using grants provided by the agency from its Brownfields Program.
Wheeler said the projects in the area could be a model for the rest of the country.
“It’s a lot of diversity in the uses of these buildings here,” he told the Arkansas Democrat-Gazette. “The hotel I’m staying in was a brownfield site; the restaurant that I went to was a former brownfield site.”
Wheeler, who left the EPA in January, toured former brownfield sites around Little Rock, including the Clinton School of Public Service, Heifer International and more. The hotel he referenced was the AC Hotel by Marriott, at the corner of Capitol Avenue and Louisiana Street.
The EPA funds are administered by the Pulaski County Brownfields Program and the Arkansas Department of Energy and Environment.
Brownfields are properties and buildings that may contain environmental contaminants such as asbestos, mold, lead or other pollutants. These contaminates can hinder redevelopment and be expensive to remove. The Brownfields Program is designed to provide assistance to business and nonprofit groups looking to redevelop such properties. Over the past four years, more than $900,000 has been awarded to the state for brownfield projects.
“That’s the whole purpose of Brownfields — to provide that service for charitable organizations that are developing property and private entities that are interested in developing properties that are contaminated,” said Barry Hyde, Pulaski County judge. “Properties that are contaminated are usually also blighted properties. The reasoning to have that federal program is to encourage and facilitate the redevelopment of contaminated properties.”
Hyde said that both private developers and nonprofit organizations can apply for Brownfields Program assistance. Private developers receive the funding through low-interest loans, and nonprofits receive grant funding. Assistance comes in two phases: The first is the initial site environmental assessment, and the second is the site cleanup. Hyde said the assessment is crucial for development because many banks and lenders require an assessment before they will approve loans for a project.
During his tour, Wheeler visited several sites in downtown Little Rock’s Creative Corridor area. He was joined by EPA regional administrator Ken McQueen; Arkansas Department of Energy and Environment secretary Becky Keogh; Arkansas Senate Public Health, Welfare and Labor Committee chair Missy Irvin; Arkansas House Public Health, Welfare and Labor Committee chair Jack Ladyman; Pulaski County elected officials; staff from the Department of Energy and Environment; U.S. Sens. John Boozman, R-Ark., and Tom Cotton, R-Ark.; and U.S. Rep. French Hill, R-Ark.
Some of the sites on the tour included the former Gus Blass Department Store on Main Street that is now home to Samantha’s Tap Room & Wood Grill and apartments.
Wheeler has toured the 500 block of Main Street, where $1 million of Brownfields funding was used to reclaim 250,000 square feet of vacant property. That building is the current home of Ballet Arkansas, The Rep’s Annex, Handle Barbershop and Bella Vita Jewelry & Gifts.
Another example of how Brownfields funding has been used is the construction of the Our House facility on Roosevelt Road. Hyde said the Brownfields Program took care of bringing in a testing lab and sampling to determine any contamination that existed, then developed a remediation program to have the contamination removed or neutralized. After work started on clearing the area, workers found an 8,000-gallon unidentified underground fuel tank. Brownfields then had to come back in, sample the tank and the materials in the tank, and make a plan to take care of it.
“Brownfields was really almost a foundational supporter of Our House,” Hyde said.
Another Brownfields project that is on the horizon is the former Veterans Affairs hospital on East Roosevelt Road. The EPA announced in May a $300,000 grant to assess potential contamination in that building and a former hotel near Interstate 30.
As for challenges with the program, Hyde said that finding viable projects can be an issue. Between developers not knowing about Brownfields and the condition of some downtown structures, it can be a years-long process from initial assessment to a completed project.
Hyde said Brownfields Program projects that can help breathe new life into buildings is a boon for downtown Little Rock and Pulaski County because the projects create spaces for people to live, work and explore.
“People who visit Little Rock and Argenta say it all the time: ‘Wow, what a great environment.’ It’s a really cool downtown area, and people want to come and visit,” he said.