Below are just a few examples of sites that SPR members have returned to productive use after working through environmental remediation and development strategies in cooperation with all stakeholders.
Honeywell - Baltimore Inner Harbor
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Site Address: 1000 Wills Street Baltimore, MD 21231 USA
Property Size: 27 acres
Former Uses: Chromate Manufacturing Plant
Current Uses: Mixed-Use (Commercial, Retail, Residential, Recreational)
Project Partners: State of Maryland, Baltimore City, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, Beatty Development, and Morgan Stanley
Start Date: Demolition/Remediation Start – 1985
Redevelopment Construction Start - 2008
Completion Date: Construction of Morgan Stanley – 2010
Construction of Exelon Tower - 2015
Future Completion Date: TBD
- Beginning in 1845, the site at 1348 Block Street near historic Fells Point in Baltimore was home to a chrome ore processing and manufacturing facility owned and operated by the Mutual Chemical Company until 1954 when Mutual was acquired by Allied Chemical. In 1985 operations at the plant ceased.
- The history of chrome ore processing on the site left many of the industrial buildings on the site contaminated with chromium. The soil and ground water under the site were also contaminated. Environmental studies conducted in the 1980s confirmed that chromium from the site was polluting the surrounding waters. • In 1989, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), the Maryland Department of the Environment (MDE) and AlliedSignal (Allied Chemical's successor company and Honeywell's predecessor) entered into a Consent Decree to clean up the site. The consent decree required a remedy that permanently contained potentially hazardous contamination within the site, eliminated human and animal contact with the contamination, and prevented further contamination of surrounding soils, surface and groundwater. Honeywell completed the project in 1999.
- Honeywell engaged in consultation with area residents, city and state regulators, and private developers. The first Planned Urban Development (PUD) for the property was passed in 1993 while remediation was still underway. Mixed commercial, retail, residential and recreational uses are planned within the PUD.
- Dismantlement/ Demolition - 1985-2000
- Remediation consisted of full containment with an underground wall encircling the site and a cap isolating the soils.
- A groundwater pump and treat system maintains hydraulic control across the site.
- Challenges consisted of:
- Construction Logistics and Sequencing
- Surface Water Control
- Subsurface Obstructions
- Air Monitoring
- Materials Management
- Protection of Remedy
- Consent Decree Performance Criteria
- Contractors’ Roles and Responsibilities
- Health and Safety
- Thames Street Wharf: In 2010, Harbor Point’s first building, Thames Street Wharf, opened. This LEED Gold-certified building is eight stories of floor-to-ceiling glass, cantilevered over the water. Tenants include Morgan Stanley and Johns Hopkins Medicine International.
- Exelon Tower:
- Construction of the Exelon Tower was celebrated at a ceremony in late February 2015 that included; Baltimore City Mayor Stephanie Rawlings-Blake; federal, state, and local officials; Exelon's CEO, and Honeywell's Vice President of Global Real Estate. It was Honeywell's extensive environmental cleanup of the 27-acre site, under the supervision of federal and state environmental regulators, which paved the way for Harbor Point. The project demonstrates that former manufacturing sites can be reclaimed for productive use, resulting in new jobs and community opportunities.
- The 21-story mixed-use building named for its signature tenant, energy giant Exelon Corp., opened in May 2016. It also is LEED Gold, with a 24-hour, 65,000- square-foot trading floor. Two months later, residents began moving into the building’s 103 apartments, the first people to call Harbor Point their home. Two other major projects are the 289-unit Point Street Apartments, completed in 2018, and Wills Wharf, a complex with offices, shops, and a 156-bed hotel with anticipated completion in 2019. The redevelopment progress has opened a spectacular stretch of the waterfront to the public, to enjoy views of the harbor and the city, and participate in the recreational and entertainment venues now operating on this transformed manufacturing site.
- Development has proceeded ahead of the original phasing plan due to strong demand and market strength. The 11 acre open space is also available for public use
- The importance of Innovative and Adaptive Remediation: EPA Administrator Christine Whitman used the site as a backdrop to announce the National Brownfields program. Highest and best beneficial reuse as regional HQ for Exelon included penetration of RCRA multimedia cap by other 1,000 piles.
- “End Use” that is of Special Interest/Public Benefit : Commercial and residential - Morgan Stanley opened a state-of-the-art commercial office building in June 2010. Plans have been approved for a mixed use complex, as well as 11-acres of open space for the remainder of the site.
- Leadership is Critical: City Leadership Support - original planned urban design approved by City Council in 1993.
- Partnership is Key:
- Honeywell worked in partnership with the State of Maryland, Baltimore City, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, H&S Properties Development Corporation, and Morgan Stanley.
- Developer utilized TIF financing for public infrastructure component.
- The Inner Harbor project illustrates the critical importance of establishing a working team of a developer and a party responsible to coordinate remediation with complex construction. Less creative developers may have backed away from this brownfield, given that the capping remedy had been in place for more than 20 years and needed to be opened temporarily to enable the development. Early and frequent technical interaction facilitated successful redevelopment while fully protecting the local community.
BP - Kettle Point Terminal
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Site Address: 1 East Providence, RI
Property Size: 47 ac.
Former Uses: Petroleum products terminal
Current Uses: Vacant
Project Partners: N/A
Start Date: Unknown
Completion Date: Ongoing
Future Completion Date: Ongoing
- 47-acre former petroleum products terminal properties; heritage ARCO (29 ac), heritage Amoco (18 ac).
- Both terminals operated 1920’s to mid-1980’s
- Barge Docks, Truck Racks, Rail Loading
- Fuel Oil, Kerosene, Diesel Fuel, and Gasoline
- Combined storage of over 900,000 bbls
- Petroleum seep in 1986 (ARCO)
- Soil remediation completed in 1995
- Groundwater remediation completed in 2006
- Letter of Compliance issued 2007
- Petroleum seep in 1980 (Amoco)
- Nearly 500 soil samples
- 50 monitoring wells
- Remediation to be coincident with redevelopment
- Planned Use: High-Density Residential (Apartments/Duplexes)
- Manage expectations: Divesting idle property and transferring ongoing remediation obligations is a long and drawn-out process.
- Be pragmatic about the realities of complicated transactions
- Stay engaged
- Hold firm on core principles
- Go local: Having local counsel and consultants who understand the intricacies of the legal and regulatory environment is critical to the success of the deal.
- Permitting
- Development plans
- Cleanup criteria
- Over communicate: It is important to not only keep members of the core team updated on the process, but also their line management.
- Send Company-Confidential communications
- Get to the point and play to the audience’s interests
- Foster openness and inclusion
Racer Trust - M1 Concourse
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Site Address: 1 1 Concourse Drive Pontiac, Michigan 48341 U.S.A.
Property Size: 85.66+/- Acres
Former Uses: Site of 4 former auto-related manufacturing plants
Current Uses: 250+ private “car condos”, a 1.5-mile performance track, 2.5-acre skid-pad, open-air auto-focused retail mall, restaurant/event center
Project Partners: City of Pontiac, Oakland County EDCA, Oakland County BRA, Michigan DEQ, Michigan EDC, U.S. EPA
Start Date: Purchased from RACER Trust on August 6, 2014
Completion Date: The final phases—retail & restaurant/event venue—are still under development
Future Completion Date: 2020 - 2021
Old GM’s PCC Validation Site
- The former General Motors Corporation (“Old GM”) owned tens of millions of square-feet of manufacturing space in Pontiac, Michigan from roughly 1903 to 2011.
- Old GM began operation of this site in 1906 after it purchased the northern half from the Rapid Motor Car Co. It then acquired Plants 3 and 4 in 1940 and 1937, respectively, and Plant 5 was purchased in 1963. These plants became part of the GMC Truck and Bus Group in 1983 and part of North American Truck Platforms in 1993.
- Plant 1 was demolished by Old GM and reused as parking. Plant 3 was used for paint mixing, paint booths and hazardous waste storage. Plant 4 contained a spray booth, conveyors and other components. Plant 5 included manufacturing of motors, castings and other auto parts.
- Virtually all remaining structures were demolished by Old GM just before its bankruptcy.
- RACER Trust took title to the site in 2011 and conducted its remediation to industrial standards under the RCRA Corrective Action program.
- RACER sold the site to M1 Concourse, LLC in 2014 and the buyer’s redevelopment began.
The Remediation
- Cleanup activities were performed by the RACER Trust, with the approval and oversight of the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency.
- The Settlement Agreement that established the Trust set aside approximately $470,639 for cleanup work at this property.
- Elevated levels of volatile organic compounds (VOCs), polynuclear aromatic hydrocarbons (PNAs), and polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs) had been identified in small areas of the site.
- Investigations of soil, groundwater and LNAPL impacts were completed to verify past remedial actions were adequate. Some minor additional excavation of PCB-impacted soil was completed in 2015.
- A restrictive covenant was recorded by RACER prohibiting any residential or groundwater use and requiring a soil vapor management plan before erecting or occupying any buildings.
- Even after selling the site, RACER continues to monitor any potential groundwater migration.
The Redevelopment
- 250 individually-deeded “car condos”, ranging from 507 to 4,800 square feet in size
- The 1.5-mile Championship Motor Speedway performance track is 30 feet wide and has a 25-foot elevation change.
- A 2.5-acre skid-pad and 6,000 square foot event tent
- Future restaurant and banquet/event center planned to be completed in 2020
- The Village at M1: A future open-air experiential walkable village of auto-focused retail businesses
- The balance of property includes drives servicing various buildings, hundreds of parking spaces, the pit area, and greenspace.
Successful Tools
- The pre-closing recording of an Environmental Easement and Use Restriction Agreement as well as a Declaration of Restrictive Covenant (DRC) provided RACER with continued access to the site for remedial activities as well as important health protections.
- RACER executed a Remediation and Redevelopment Coordination Plan (RRCP) with the buyer-developer to allow for the transfer of title while RACER continued its cleanup, expediting the timeline of the buyer’s new development.
- Pre-closing support from the city, county, state, and federal economic development and environmental organizations was critical.
- Post-closing consideration from the U.S. EPA to allow for redevelopment to be completed before finalizing closure (e.g. groundwater monitoring, updated DRC). was also crucial
Hemisphere - Columbus Casino Redevelopment
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Site Address: 200 Georgesville Road, Columbus, OH 43228
Property Size: 121 Acres
Former Uses: Former Delphi Automotive Plant
Current Uses: Casino
Project Partners: Hemisphere Brownfield Group LLC; Duke Realty; Hull & Associates, Inc.
Start Date: February 2010
Completion Date: January 2013
Future Completion Date:
- In June 2009, a team from Duke-Hemisphere Redevelopment visited a hulking 1.5 million square foot Delphi Automotive plant near Columbus, Ohio. Walking through the plant was like a journey back in time. The dimly lit manufacturing facility had a noticeably sweet and sticky odor from nearly 67 years of intensive manufacturing activity conducted on the heavily-worn wood block flooring. Delphi Automotive was emerging from a bankruptcy filing. Consequently, this formerly thriving facility, which once supported thousands of workers and their families, appeared to be just another major brownfield destined to linger in the portfolio of a bankruptcy estate.
- At the time of our site visit in June 2009, the property had been on the market for a number of years – yet no one was able to work through the significant challenges, both environmentally and from a development perspective, to make a redevelopment plan feasible. While this 121-acre site had a number of positive attributes, including the property’s proximity to a major interstate, the vacant plant also posed a number of redevelopment challenges, given then existing depressed market conditions.
- In this case, the site had a storied past of heavy manufacturing, commencing in 1945 until Delphi Automotive Systems, LLC closed the plant in 2007 and commenced plant decommissioning. Historically, the plant produced several automotive components, including door latches, door locks, window frames and other parts. Manufacturing operations at the plant included stamping, welding, painting, automated assembly molding, plating, heat treating and roll forming. Railroad tracks bisected the site and ran into the main manufacturing buildings, which also included several press areas, subsurface lubing systems, quench oil pits, furnaces and similar operations. The plant was powered by its own on-site power plant, which at one time was coal fired. Like partially eaten scoops of ice cream, the remnants of coal piles littered a large storage yard. As an added amenity, the majority of the remaining buildings had substantial quantities of asbestos-containing materials as part of the building insulation. Therefore, the deal at the time looked like a brownfield redeveloper’s perfect storm – a depressed real estate market, a large property with vast empty buildings replete with asbestos, and substantial, but not yet fully characterized, environmental issues, involving a seller in bankruptcy.
- Almost immediately, the team entered the site in Ohio’s Voluntary Action Program and sought technical assistance from Ohio EPA regarding site investigation and remediation issues. Thankfully, both Ohio EPA and U.S. EPA worked very quickly to provide technical input on several regulatory issues regarding redevelopment. In fact, U.S. EPA Region 5 personnel from its Automotive Redevelopment Task Force, in coordination with Ohio EPA’s Voluntary Action Program, realized that providing expedited input on critical projects of this nature was the key to facilitating large scale redevelopment.
- Remedial activities included the following:
- Demolition of approximately 1.5 million square feet of historical plant, including substantial asbestos abatement activities.
- In-situ treatment of approximately 50,000 tons of hazardous soil.
- Relocation and cover of a substantial volume of impacted soil as part of the redevelopment plan.
- Multiple UST and AST closures throughout the property.
- Closure and wetland mitigation of former RCRA-regulated waste ponds.
- Importing approximately 500,000 cubic yards of clean soil to meet modified grading plans for redevelopment.
- Duke-Hemisphere bifurcated the redevelopment process into an initial 112-acre phase and a remaining 9-acre phase based on the remediation complexity and to meet strict development timeframes.
- The Casino building plan is depicted in red over the 1.2 million square foot main building outline. 3
- In November 2009, after numerous unsuccessful attempts, Ohio voters issued four licenses to construct casinos in Cleveland, Columbus, Cincinnati and Toledo. Similar ballot issues had failed to win voter approval in Ohio since the early 1990s. Yet, the need for massive job creation and an immediate boost to Ohio’s tax coffers, swayed the voters to take a chance on casino gaming. Spearheading a well-orchestrated campaign, publicly-owned Penn National Gaming, headquartered in Wyomissing, Pennsylvania, secured the licenses for casinos in both Columbus and Toledo. While Penn had selected a remediated brownfield site in Toledo as the location for one of these new facilities, the Columbus site originally was to be sited on 18 acres near downtown, which several constituencies in the community found controversial.
- After discussions with numerous community stakeholders, in early January 2010, Penn agreed to evaluate alternative locations for its Columbus casino. At that time, Duke-Hemisphere quickly suggested that the 121-acre former Delphi facility would be an ideal location for this massive project. Immediately entering the chase with a torrent of developers offering alternative locations, Duke-Hemisphere completed the purchase acquisition from Delphi, substantial supplemental due diligence and the disposition to a Penn National affiliate, within 30 days. Duke-Hemisphere agreed to demolish all structures, complete all remedial activities and deliver the site on a padready basis with infrastructure improvements ready for redevelopment within 18 months of closing.
- Due to this collaborative approach, both demolition and site remediation necessary to construct the casino were completed a mere 10 months after closing, 8 months ahead of schedule. This process included asbestos abatement in and complete demolition of nearly 1.5 million square feet of heavy manufacturing buildings, the remediation of soils and the characterization of groundwater issues in accordance with the Ohio Voluntary Action Program’s requirements. Nearly 1.5 million square feet of building pads were recycled and used as a part of the new casino development. Penn’s project team targeted LEED Silver certification and the development consists of a multi-phased, 300,000 square foot casino. Subsequent phases of this development are planned to include a significant convention/hotel facility.
- Strong leadership demonstrated from U.S. EPA Region 5’s Automotive Task Force, combined with collaboration from Ohio’s Voluntary Action Program staff, helped unlock this redevelopment opportunity.
- Integrating the remediation plan with the site redevelopment plan was critical to project feasibility.
- Working with a sophisticated brownfield redevelopment team to spearhead the resolution of complex environmental liabilities maximized project value and minimized project cost.
Chemours Case Study Edgemoor
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Site Address: 104 Hay Rd Wilmington, DE 19809 USA
Property Size: 114 acres
Former Uses: Titanium dioxide manufacturing plant
Current Uses: Future container terminal to support the Port of Wilmington
Project Partners: Diamond State Port Corporation, Delaware Department of Natural Resources, City of Wilmington, State of Delaware
Start Date: Construction expected to start by 2022
Completion Date: TBD
Future Completion Date: TBD
- Located in the historic Delaware River region, the property’s early history included farming and residential land uses.
- The property has a long history of industrial use dating back to the late 1800s. Iron Company, manufacturer of railroad and highway bridges, was the first recorded industrial user of the property. Landmark rail and bridge infrastructures, including the suspension super the Brooklyn Bridge, were reportedly built on the site.
- Ellierslie Mansion, built on the site in early 1800s, was leased by F. Scott Fitzgerald in the 1920s. The mansion was demolished in the 1970s.
- The land was once owned by William Penn, and served as a residence and farm from the late 1680s to the late 1800s.
- In the 1930s, the property was purchased by an entity which later became a subsidiary of E. I. du Pont de Nemours and Company (DuPont). Titanium dioxide was manufactured on the site for nearly eight decades.
- The site is regulated under the Resource Conservation and Recovery Act (RCRA) under the Delaware Department of Natural Resources and Environmental Control (DNREC).
- Twentynine (29) SWMUs and areas of concern were originally identified at the site.
- The Phase I and II RCRA Facility Investigations concluded that 27 areas required no further investigation or no further action.
- SWMU #6, (Ponds B, C and D) were properly closed with land use restrictions and ongoing maintenance and monitoring requirements.
- At the time of property sale, the effluent holding basin remained in use.
- A final RCRA Correction Action and Closure Plan was developed at the time of site decommissioning. The Closure Plan outlined ongoing maintenance and monitoring of closed ponds, as well as ongoing groundwater monitoring responsibilities.
- With substantial frontage on the Delaware River, close proximity to the 45’ deep shipping channel, excellent access to and a dedicated highway exit from Interstate 495, and an active and well-maintained on-site Norfolk Southern rail spur, the site was ideally suited for port operations.
- Diamond State Port Corporation (DSPC), operator of the full-service deep-water international Port of Wilmington, acquired the property to serve as an expansion area for the seaport.
- The proposed redevelopment of the Edgemoor property as a container terminal will include removal of the majority of the remaining buildings and structures and restoration of the two existing vessel piers.
- Operations for the expanded port will be managed by a third-party organization. In September 2018, Gulftainer, a UAE-based port operator, won a 50-year concession to operate and develop the Port of Wilmington.
- Preliminary plans call for a 2,000-foot berth to be serviced by eight of the largest cranes on the river. The expanded port is also expected to include a new 1.2 million TEU (twenty-foot equivalent units) container terminal.
- Repositioning the Site prior to decommissioning ensured that key infrastructure remained intact and viable, ultimately attracting specialized end users.
- Broad outreach to both public and private developers and end users created a competitive environment attracting multiple interested parties.
- Site was dispositioned prior to final RCRA closure due to the strength of the buyer and the unique assets associated with the Site.
Imperial Oil - Port Credit Divestment
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Site Address: 70 Mississauga Road, Mississauga, Ontario
Property Size: 73 acres
Former Uses: 1929-33 –Quarry and brick yard 1933-85 –Oil refining and chemical plant
Current Uses: Vacant at time of sale
Project Partners: n/a
Start Date: Site was divested as vacant property in March 2017
Completion Date: On-going –purchaser is remediating and readying site for mixed used redevelopment
Future Completion Date: Unknown
- Site is 73 acres of prime waterfront property on the north shore of Lake Ontario, surrounded by residential land uses to the east and west, and commercial to the north
- Site is the last large tract of vacant land on Lake Ontario in the Greater Toronto Area
- Site municipally designated as Special Waterfront
- Mixed use community (commercial, HD residential, public space); building heights 4-12 story's
- Sophisticated, organized and highly influential community
- Port Credit Brick Company 1923-1933
- Lloyd Refineries Ltd. 1933-1944
- Good Rich Refining Co. Ltd. 1944-1956
- Texaco Canada Ltd. 1960-1990
- Refining ceased in 1978
- Chemical plant shutdown in 1985
- Demolition 1985-90
- Waterfront Trail along shore of Lake Ontario opened in 2005. Land for the trail was licensed to the City of Mississauga.
- Site divestment planning, including extensive environmental assessment 2013-2014
- Request for qualification and request for proposals 2015-2016
- Title transfer to brownfield developer (consortium of developers) 2017
- Remediation is being managed by the purchaser. Regulatory closure will be obtained through filing of a Record of Site Condition with the Province of Ontario Ministry of Environment, Conservation and Parks. Local regulations prevent redevelopment of the lands without a Record of Site Condition.
- Redevelopment will include:
- Elements of higher density residential, such as town homes and high rises. No single family housing will be included in the development.
- Commercial in support of the new community
- Public space
- Green space
- Please also see developer’s website for additional details:
- Extensive environmental site assessment maximized value by reducing uncertainty for bidders
- Early and ongoing community / municipal engagement e.g. active participation in Waterfront Parks Strategy and Inspiration Port Credit (10 yr. effort)
- City approved / community endorsed Master Plan Framework
- Real estate advisor vs sales broker results in qualified prospects at lowest cost
General Motors - Sleepy Hollow (Edge on Hudson)
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Site Address: The Former General Motors North Tarrytown (now called Sleepy Hollow) sites are
located at 199 Beekman Avenue and 60 Continental Street in an urban area within
the Village of Sleepy Hollow, NY
Property Size: Site is comprised of three, non-contiguous parcels: 1) main assembly plant area
(approximately 66.2 acres); 2) eastern (approximately 28.3 acres); and 3) former
salaried employee parking lot (approximately 1.7 acres)
Former Uses: Vehicle manufacturing
Current Uses: Mixed used development (residential, retail, office, hotel) and various public uses (parks, athletic fields, amphitheater, public works facilities). Rail: future commuter hub
Project Partners: SunCal & Diversified Realty
Start Date: Initial GM site prep development and environmental cleanup activities: 2000-2014
Final development agreement 2014 (transfer of property)
Completion Date: On going
Future Completion Date: Full build-out is anticipated in 2024-2026 depending on economic conditions
- Until approximately 1830 when a brickyard was established within the western part of the site, the property was undeveloped or used as farmland.
- In 1885, the Rand Drill Company acquired the abandoned brickyard property and the facility was used to manufacture percussion rock drills until approximately 1909.
- Between 1899 and 1914 the property was used for vehicle manufacturing by the Mobile Company of America and the Maxwell Briscoe Company.
- The Chevrolet Motor Company acquired the property in 1914.
- In 1915, Chevrolet joined the General Motors banner, launching an 82-year run. The plant became a staple of the community, employing thousands of people and building an estimated 12 million vehicles The site included two manufacturing buildings (Body and Chassis Plants) along with support operations supported by a powerhouse, petroleum bulk storage tanks, and a wastewater pretreatment facility. Additional property (to the east) was acquired from the Village of North Tarrytown and was only used as a parking lot with rail access for shipping new vehicles to offsite distribution centers Overall, approximately 90% of the total site area has been developed on fill.
- 1996 - GM assembly plant closes
- 1999 - Plant Decommissioning and Demolition Completed
- 2014 – property sold to SunCal and Diversified Realty Advisors: Edge-on-Hudson mixed use commercial residential waterfront development
- 1996 - 2001 Plant decommissioning and demolition performed
- 2002 - 2005 Initial remedial investigation performed under the NYS Department of Conservation Voluntary Cleanup Program
- 2005 – 2014 Environmental remediation activities conducted under NYS Dep of Conservation Brownfields Cleanup Program
- Land based cleanup included:
- Removal of historic tanks and soil from petroleum impacted source areas
- Soil removal and groundwater treatment in areas impacted by chromium and TCE
- Removal of soil/fill from areas impacted with elevated lead
- Removal of historic tanks and soil from petroleum impacted source areas
- Sediment based cleanup included:
- Dredging and disposal of 4,400 cy of sediment with elevated metals near site outfall
- Resolution of Natural Resource Damages with NYS through $875K settlement
- Dredging and disposal of 4,400 cy of sediment with elevated metals near site outfall
- Engineering and Institutional Controls:
- Site-wide cover, restrictions on excavations below cover and import/export of fill material
- Requirement to assess (and mitigate if needed) soil gas vapors in new structures
- Development of a Site Management Plan defining controls and reporting obligations
- Environmental easement on all property requiring all land owners to comply with plans
- Site-wide cover, restrictions on excavations below cover and import/export of fill material
- 1,177 units of housing
- including 61 units of affordable, senior and workforce housing.
- including 61 units of affordable, senior and workforce housing.
- 140-room boutique hotel
- 135,000 square feet of retail space
- 30,000 square feet of office space.
- The project will also feature more than 16 acres of parkland, including a promenade along the Hudson River linking to the existing Scenic Hudson RiverWalk to the south and Kingsland Point Park to the north.
- The Sleepy Hollow Local Development Corporation is developing the former East Parcel of the site for community and public service uses.
- Possible features include:
- Department of Public Works Facilities
- Amphitheater
- Multi-purpose athletic field with synthetic turf
- Skate park
- Great lawn area for picnicking
- Connections to adjacent parks and historical sites
- Department of Public Works Facilities
- The concept plan includes the option of including a second access road to the western main redeveloped site with an overpass over the Metro-North rail lines that intersect the two sites.
- GM has a proven track record of working collaboratively with communities to identify the best use of former industrial sites through responsible development that supports community reinvestment.
Closed assembly plants are particularly challenging as each site comes with its own set of economic, environmental, community, regulatory, and political challenges. - The GM Sleepy Hollow redevelopment with its riverfront location and proximity to NYC, the Sleepy Hollow site GM worked with the communities of Tarrytown and Sleepy Hollow, including local and state officials, for many years to develop a plan that will enable sustainable development for years to come while balancing corporate responsibility to act judiciously as it relates to GM’s business objectives.
- In NY, the regulatory scheme is called SEQRA. The review standard is a very ambiguous requiring a “Hard Look”, but easily challenged by objectors.
- Obtaining entitlements is a lengthy and expensive process with little certainty regarding the outcome. Tremendous capital outlay during a political and regulatory maze. Project financing and equity partners for large-scale master-planned communities is difficult to attain.
- Sites with industrial histories can be costly to clean-up to an acceptable standard for residential development and require both technical and regulatory expertise in order to successfully execute.
- Project has Certificates of Completion and the Site Management Plan is approved, providing a roadmap for handling environmental conditions during development
