ASSESSMENT AND INCENTIVES
FERNDALE, MI
ASTI Environmental (ASTI) assisted in the redevelopment of a 20 acre former industrial facility that included a 212,000 square foot blighted building. The site had been used for manufacturing steel piping since 1929, and had been vacant for eight years. Impediments to redevelopment included an historical spill, transformers, asbestos containing building materials, oil soaked wood block floors, and a perception that the site would require extension remediation prior to use.
ASTI conducted the environmental due diligence to define the existing historical impacts, and to evaluate redevelopment scenarios. Based on this review, the effectiveness of existing engineered controls was evaluated, remediation costs were estimated and the financing gap identified. ASTI then prepared an incentives package including a loan from the local revolving loan fund and reimbursement of eligible activities from tax increment revenues to permit the purchaser to obtain sufficient funding to redevelop the property for industrial use.
The final redevelopment plans included removal of asbestos containing building materials only in those areas where remodeling was being conducted and implementation of an operations and maintenance plan for all other locations, removal of contaminated wood block floor and installation of new floors, removal of impacted soils in a crawl space and along a railroad siding, and closure of all other impacts using engineered controls and deed restrictions. The site was redevelopment for multiple industrial tenants and new construction on the north potion of the property is now proposed.
