City Bus Service Given $964,339 Loan to Clean up Brownfields

Gov. Dannel P. Malloy and the Department of Economic and Community Development have awarded $10,507,339 in loans and grants to remediate nine brownfields located throughout the state, including Middletown.

Clinton, Hartford, Middletown, New Haven, Vernon, Waterbury, and Watertown will use the funding to clean up the polluted properties and redevelop the sites for affordable housing and mixed use development.

“These funds will have immediate impact for the municipalities—allowing them to pursue community revitalization and remediate blighted properties,” said Malloy. “Cleaning up pollution on these sites is a fundamental part of strengthening our economy and boosting economic growth. These investments continue our efforts to restore abandoned properties to productive use.”

“The Malloy administration has made a tremendous commitment to cleaning up brownfields,” said Catherine Smith, DECD Commissioner.

“In the past fiscal year, DECD has announced more than $35 million for remediation and redevelopment work at 46 different sites—these are areas where environmental hazards are greatly reducing the impact these sites could have on local economies. That investment has leveraged more than $508 million additional private and federal dollars, and has helped clean up approximately 385 acres in Connecticut.”

The grants are going directly to municipalities to fund a wide range of activities including environmental assessment, planning, design, remediation, demolition, construction, and acquisition. 

The projects include:

• Clinton will receive a $200,000 grant for environmental site characterization and geotechnical engineering assistance to determine the remediation and feasibility of converting a nine acre portion of the former town landfill into a two-rink ice skating facility. 
  
• Hartford will receive a $2,000,000 grant to assist with the remediation and reuse of the Capewell Horsenail Factory. Ninety housing units and 35,000 square feet of retail space is planned for the former factory. 
  
• Hartford will also receive a $500,000 grant to assist with asbestos and lead abatement on a Pearl Street property that is slated for mixed use, including 66 residential ownership units. 
  
• Middletown—Middletown Transit District will receive a $964,339 loan for remediation and soil cap, helping to finance a new transit station. 
  
• New Haven—Goatville Development, LLC, will receive a $1,748,500 loan for a mixed-use development that will include approximately 200 housing units on the Star Supply site. 
  
• Vernon—Kaplan Mill Works, LLC, will receive a $2,000,000 loan for the remediation and reuse of the Hockanum Mill in Rockville. The former mill will house commercial and light industrial uses. 
  
• Waterbury and the Waterbury Development Corporation will receive a $780,000 grant which is gap financing to help complete remediation and demolition work at the Washington Avenue Business Park, the site of a future mixed-use development.