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Brownfields Success Stories
Lowell, Massachusetts: From Brownfields to Ballfields
While the City of Lowell, Massachusetts has a long and impressive history of textile manufacturing, it is also economically depressed, with a steadily declining population, an 18 percent poverty rate, and high unemployment. However, this downward trend is now reversing. A $200,000 EPA Brownfields Pilot grant allowed Lowell to perform assessments on areas of suspected contamination that had long been underused, including three of the City's former textile mills and an ash dumping ground. In support of the effort to redevelop these neglected sites, the City of Lowell contributed $4 million toward renewal and has leveraged an additional $67.5 million in funding from the State, the University of Massachusetts, and various Federal agencies. The City's designation as a Federal Enterprise Community (EC) by the Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) has provided Lowell with over $3 million in Federal Social Services Block Grant (SSBG) funding to date, as well as access to EC-specific tax-exempt bond financing. A fundraising review committee established by the City submitted applications that resulted in $1.3 million from a HUD Homeless Grant; more than $1 million from the Federal Home Investment Partnership Program; approximately $1,080,000 from a Federal Supportive Housing Program; and more than $6 million from the Section 108 Loan Program. Lowell has also allocated $500,000 in EC funding over the next two years to create educational, social and recreational programs in five schools within the 1.6-mile EC area. The City's redevelopment efforts have paid off: on the site of the former ash dump, the new, 6,000-seat Edward J. LeLacheur Ballpark opened its doors on June 22, 1998, providing 100 part-time and 10 full-time jobs during its operating season. The 8,000-seat Paul E. Tsongas Arena opened on January 27, 1998, creating 341 full- and part-time jobs on the first of three former mill sites. In recognition of these dramatic turnarounds, EPA selected Lowell as one of 16 "Showcase Communities" under the Agency's Brownfields Initiative. Chosen from more than 231 applicants, Lowell will receive another $200,000, and the support of a full-time EPA representative, to address additional sites with redevelopment potential. For more information on Lowell's Brownfields Pilot, contact Diane Kelley at (617) 573-9672.