Image Source: Children’s Museum & Theatre of Maine
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On return trips from her old college stomping grounds of Boston, Nancy Martin, business programs manager for the City of Portland, Maine, knows she is home when the Children’s Museum & Theatre of Maine (CMTM) comes into view. It is arguably the most prominent venue in a development known as Thompson’s Point, which stands out right off Interstate 295. The peninsula setting symbolizes the natural amenities Maine possesses, while the ground below is a prime example of Portland’s desire to maintain its beauty inside and out.
Built on a former rail yard that fell into disrepair as the city’s shipping industry ran out of steam in the 1940s, Thompson’s Point, and specifically CMTM, are certified success stories from Brownfields project funding provided by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency.
As has happened on many former industrial sites, the soil on this now vibrant landmark became contaminated. Before breathing new life into blighted locations, cities and developers can apply for EPA assistance in the form of grants and technical expertise to assess and, if needed, remediate the contamination – which may include hazardous materials such as asbestos, lead, and mercury.
With the right planning, public and private financing, and dedicated organizations and governments, brownfields can become instrumental in city revitalization efforts. Affordable housing projects, retail developments, city parks, and cultural attractions are among the brownfield solutions seen across the United States.
Here, we explore three efforts that are models for rehabilitating lost ground.
Image Source: Children’s Museum & Theatre of Maine
The Children’s Museum & Theatre of Maine (CMTM) dates back more than 100 years, fitting in a region so rich in history. At its previous location on Free Street in Portland’s Art District, space was so limited that the theater was cramped in the basement with limited resources to expand programming. That site could hardly hold the 110,000 visitors it attracted annually.
“We outgrew the space,” said Julie Butcher Pezzino, the museum and theater’s executive director. Pezzino was still living in Pittsburgh at the time but is one of many who grew so enchanted with the museum and region as a whole during visits that she and her family moved to Portland. She took over the venue’s leadership position in July 2019.
In 2016, the museum made the move to find a new home, searching 18 potential sites and raising more than $15 million to buy a 1.12-acre property on Thompson’s Point in 2017. But the land’s industrial past had left a mark, in the form of polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs), arsenic, and petroleum. The museum applied for and received a direct Brownfields cleanup grant of half a million dollars from the EPA. The city of Portland and the Greater Portland Council of Governments also contributed from their own Brownfields cleanup grants that they each received from the EPA as well.
Construction began in 2019, and the museum and theater’s future took shape as the world shut down due to the COVID-19 pandemic. The old site closed for good, and the state-of-the-art new venue built from the ground up opened in 2021. The 30,000-square-foot facility includes a seven-tank aquarium on the top floor, exhibits featuring national and local vendors’ craftsmanship, and a top-notch theater with 89 permanent seats that hosts six family-oriented productions per year operated by professional cast and crew that is also used for shorter exhibitions during museum hours.
Image Source: Children’s Museum & Theatre of Maine
The Children’s Museum & Theatre of Maine has more than doubled its old attendance numbers in the new site. In the past year, 260,000 individuals from Portland, its surrounding area, and nationally visited. Those same guests often shop in Thompson’s Point or downtown, eat at local restaurants, and stay in area hotels. Locals not only use the CMTM for regular visits and special events, but also enjoy festivals, fireworks, and other activities on Thompson’s Point.
“Even though we’re about kids and playing, we are an important economic driver for the city,” said Pezzino.
To that point, the CMTM has retained its altruistic nature through diversity and inclusion efforts, such as its multicultural programming and fundraising that’s allowed 50,000 visitors at free or reduced cost. At the same time, Portland Development Corporation recognized the CMTM as one of five businesses making important economic contributions to the city in 2023.
Martin, who attended that award ceremony, said Thompson’s Point is a shining example in Portland’s Brownfield portfolio that has received more than $7 million in EPA funding since 1996.
“I am living proof of the museum’s draw,” said Martin, who lives in neighboring Yarmouth and often frequents the museum with her twins. “The museum is one of the attractions that brings people to Portland for the day or the weekend.”
Motor City may still love its cars, but the emphasis on a decades-long revitalization along the Detroit River waterfront has been creating a safe, walkable, and cyclable area for visitors and locals to enjoy in myriad ways. The effort is so extensive that the city reworked its grid to add bike lanes, multiple greenways, and other paths to the 5.5-mile riverfront.
“We are pulling in private and philanthropic partners to make sure the riverfront is an accessible place for all Detroiters and an active attraction for people across the region and both sides of the international border,” said Brittney Hoszkiw, deputy group executive of economic development for the Detroit Mayor’s Office.
Hoszkiw, who takes her young children to the riverfront often to “work out the wiggles,” is the type of person the city and the nonprofit Detroit Riverfront Conservancy had in mind when envisioning the future of the site that had become overcome with industrial contamination. The EPA’s Brownfields Assessment and Cleanup Grant Program has played a critical role in a number of projects begun in 2003 along the river that have added community gathering points, housing, a popular beachfront, office and retail space, and multiple places for adults and children to play.
Image Source: Detroit River Conservancy
Notable additions include:
The EPA report on the Detroit Riverfront notes that the Detroit River Conservancy estimates $275 million have already been invested along the riverfront, with an additional $1 billion expected to be invested in the next decade. The Conservancy, which partners with the City of Detroit, General Motors, and The Kresge Foundation, says the riverfront draws 3.5 million visitors annually. It’s been named the country’s top riverfront for three years by USA Today.
Two high-profile projects that will add to those numbers are a new 25-story JW Marriott Hotel built on the former Joe Louis Arena site that will be attached to Huntington Place Convention Center opening in 2027, and the 22-acre Ralph C. Wilson, Jr. Centennial Park, which is scheduled to debut in fall 2025.
The new park development project is the capstone of revitalization on the west side of the riverfront. The east section was completed a year ago. Once construction is completed, the Conservancy’s role will focus on the safety, maintenance, and programming of live and special events year-round.
“I’m very proud of Detroit and how it approached economic development strategies – much of it is rooted in the direction of the community,” said Hoszkiw.
Home to four key shipyards during World War II, Richmond, CA, has been battling housing challenges for longer than its leaders or citizens would care to remember. The issues were only exaggerated during the 2008 Great Recession, which hit the Bay Area especially hard. The combination of high costs and dot com industries going bust forced more than 200 homes to become abandoned or overcome by squatters.
While the remnants of those hardships remain, the City and longtime project partner Richmond Community Foundation, a nonprofit focused on transformative philanthropy and community change, have become a model for other communities facing similar Brownfield challenges.
The sight of boarded homes and neglected properties was unseemly enough in Richmond, but illegal dumping and general disregard contaminated the soil. RCF Connects and the city worked with the EPA to get the funds and expertise needed to begin the cleanup and then creatively made a social impact bond work to their advantage.
Since 2015, 29 houses have been rebuilt or received complete makeovers that are then sold to first-time home buyers, reports Jim Becker, president and CEO of RCF Connects. Six more are in the pipeline – about as much as funding allows for each year.
Image Source: RCF Connects
Low interest rates and contract provisions keep prices at about half the cost of a typical home in Contra Costa County, which has allowed young families to move to Richmond or remain living in the city even if they have medium- or low-wage jobs. “We set the houses below market level and don’t allow bidding up that you can see in these scenarios,” said Becker.
Beyond refurbishing the sites, these new projects have taken sustainability efforts to a new level by allocating funds to transform the properties into all-electric homes that use solar power and other natural energy sources to avoid adding further strain to California’s grid.
Richmond Mayor Eduardo Martinez toured one of the refurbished homes in August and came away impressed. “These homes not only provide affordable housing but also incorporate sustainable features like solar power and all-electric systems,” Martinez said. “Partnering with RCF Connects, we’ve tackled blight, affordability, and environmental issues through creative solutions. We chose this approach because it revitalizes neighborhoods and promotes long-term sustainability. Richmond is now a model for other cities, showing that innovative, community-focused solutions can effectively address housing challenges.”
It takes between six and eight months to typically complete a renovation, but the timeframe extends to 18 months for the rare instances when the existing properties must be razed. Contaminated dirt is either capped or removed and replaced with clean soil.
Becker said the response has been positive, even among those who initially feared the affordable housing would bring down prices of surrounding homes. RFC Connects has also been able to acquire funds to upgrade some of the adjacent homes to be more energy-efficient as well.
RCF Connects is now consulting with four other California cities, including Fresno and Oakland, to resuscitate abandoned homes through EPA funds and social impact bonds. It is also assisting St. Louis, which has similar issues. “We’re trying to serve as an expert to help other cities figure this out,” Becker said. “Any city can replicate this.”
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