Properties such as this building located on Elm Street near Arnold Street could be razed to make way for a major construction project. (Photo by chief photographer Frederick Gore)
WESTFIELD – The state has notified city officials of a commitment of $480,200 to remove contamination for the Elm Street property identified as part of a mixed-use commercial, retail and residential property development project.
Mayor Daniel M. Knapik said the brownfield grant is being issued to the city through MassDevelopment, a quasi-independent agency, created in 1998 under M.G.L. Chapter 23G, that was established to work with businesses, nonprofits, and local, state, and federal officials and agencies to strengthen the Massachusetts economy.
MassDevelopment supports economic growth, development, and investment across all sectors of the Massachusetts economy: public and private; commercial, industrial, and residential in collaboration with private- and public-sector developers, businesses, and banks to identify investors and leverage public and private funds to support economic growth.
The city is seeking to leverage private investment with state and federal funding allocated for the project to acquire and prepare the property along Elm Street, between Arnold and Church streets, for a major construction project.
“This brownfield grant makes the Elm Street project extremely live,” Knapik said earlier this week. “The cost of this environmental cleanup is gargantuan.”
City Advancement Officer Jeff Daley said the site is contaminated with petroleum and lead, vestiges of the former Professional Building boiler building. The boiler building was located behind the Professional Building which was destroyed in a fire in January of 1952. The boiler building, which provided steam to the office building, was converted to other uses, including a print shop, before it, too, was razed to create more parking behind the Elm Street commercial building.
“We will be going out to bid the environmental mitigation bid in 10 days,” Daley said. “We hope that the grant covers the remediation of the soil under the rear parking lot and under the building.”
The soils under the parking area have been assessed and determined to contain the petroleum and lead pollutants.
“We know that we have to excavate that soil and replace it with clean soil,” Daley said. “What we don’t know is the extent of the contamination under the existing buildings, so we plan to demolish those buildings and excavate that soil as required to clean the entire site. It makes sense to do it all at once.”
Daley said the demolition of the existing buildings will be bid in a separate contract using municipal block grant funds. The federal funded Community Development Block Grant program allows communities to allocate funds to remove blighted buildings.
The city owns the two-story Block Building on the corner of Elm and Arnold streets. The one-story building, located between the Block Building and the former Newberrys Five & Dime store site (destroyed by fire in 1985), is currently owned by Hampden Bank.
Daley said that the current property owners will be responsible for funding a portion of the clean up effort, or take other action, options that will be the focus of near future discussions between the city and bank.
