Case Studies

Below are two examples of brownfields sites that have been remediated in a way that exemplifies equitable development.  They both include a high level of community involvement and a positive outcome for the surrounding neighborhood.  They are also winners of the prestigious Phoenix Awards, given since 1997 to outstanding brownfields remediation sites that have made a significant contribution to brownfields redevelopment and community reinvestment.

Huntington, West Virginia, was founded in the late 1800s. It began as a blue-collar railroad town, but with the decline of railroad use, many companies began relocating or going out of business.  By the early 1960s, the town's population had steadily decreased.

In 1993, one of the last remaining large businesses, the Owens-Illinois Glass Plant, closed; 630 workers lost their jobs, increasing the unemployment rolls by a third.  The community was devastated.  In an attempt to take control of the situation a town meeting was held. More than 900 people attended to discuss ways to stem the community's loss of population and jobs.  Over the next several months the townspeople completed a grassroots strategic plan guided by three general principles--economic opportunity, sustainable development, and community based partnerships-and focused on the reuse of the Owens-Illinois site.

The Huntington Municipal Development Authority, with the help of the local nonprofit Huntington Area Development Council, took title to the 42-acre former glass plant.  The State of West Virginia designated the Huntington Industrial Center as its pilot brownfields test site. The environmental assessment revealed that the site was contaminated with arsenic, barium, and various petroleum products.
After the site was clean, the development authority created an industrial park: the Huntington Industrial Center.  The project took three years to complete and cost $7.7 million.

The Huntington Industrial Center is the largest available manufacturing building in the State of West Virginia, and has been a revitalizing force for Huntington. In May 1997, the first tenant, SNE Enterprises, Inc., moved into the Industrial Center with a 10-year lease for 285,000 square feet.  The company hoped to employ over 300 people by April 1999. That summer, the city was recognized in Site Selection magazine as one of the "Top 15 Hot Spots" for economic development. In September, a second tenant, Pure Tech Plastics, signed a 10-year lease for 150,000 square feet; it expected to provide 150 jobs.  Since then, three additional businesses have moved into the center.   Four out of the five businesses there are locally owned and the majority of the employees are residents of Huntington.
Today the City of Huntington supports a diverse population of approximately 52,000 residents.  There is room for additional businesses at the Industrial Center, and the Huntington Area Development Council is aggressively marketing the site. There is a great deal of potential and hope for future development of the site.

The people of Huntington were involved in the development of the Huntington Industrial Center from beginning to end. They identified a community need and took steps to rectify the problem themselves.  The turnaround of the former glass plant and the opportunities it has provided show what community residents can achieve if they work together.

For Further Information Contact:
City of Huntington
PO Box 1659
Huntington WV 25717
Telephone (304) 696-5903
Fax (304) 696-4465

The Yards at Union Station included rail yards and a passenger depot from 1896 until 1984, when a new facility was opened.  In 1987, the Portland Development Commission purchased the abandoned station in hope of creating a high-density, mixed-use infill project near downtown.  In 1995, Portland's Metro government adopted the 2040 Plan, which included ambitious affordable housing goals.  The Yards site is located in the River District Urban Renewal Area, for which the 2040 plan sets a goal of 5,000 new units of housing,so the housing portion of the plan took on added significance.

In 1995, principal developers for the site had been selected through a competitive proposal process, financing had been arranged, and the design of the project was under way.  During a geo-technical assessment of the site, however, crude oil was discovered in the soil, which led to an intense exploration of the site, which found that contamination was pervasive enough to require remediation.  The discoverty lead to the loss of both the principal lender for the project and the general contractor and left the development team wondering whether houses could be built on the site.

In the months that followed, Oregon's Voluntary Clean-up Program conducted a thorough site assessment and feasibility study, which discovered arsenic, lead, and polynucleur aromatic hydrocarbons, along with the 3,000 square feet of crude oil.
The development team worked closely with the Oregon Department of Environmental Quality to devise a satisfactory clean-up plan that would also keep development costs feasible.  They settled on a creative combination: the bulk of the soil containing crude oil was removed and the proposed community was redesigned so that the roadways and buildings would act asa cap, and a deed restriction was put in place to ensure the cap wouldn't be compromised by future development.  The total remediation cost was $2.65 million, out of a total development cost of $57 million.

Development went forward. In March 1998, 158 units of housing were completed and 40 percent were reserved for households earning up to 60 percent of median income. The rest were sold at market value.  In January 2000, another 321 apartments were finished. Half of these units were reserved for households earning less than 50 percent of median income, and half for those earning less than 60 percent.  The station building itself was also renovated as a retail center, and a pedestrian bridge over the tracks connects the site to the rest of downtown.

The Yards at Union Station was part of the large River District renewal process, which won an award from 1000 Friends of Oregon in 2001 for its thorough and extensive citizen involvement process. The core of this process, the River District Steering Committee, was a citizen advocacy group composed of nonprofit representatives, community builders, and business leaders who met consistently for nearly 10 years.

The redevelopment of the Yards at Union Station made job, transportation, and accessible affordable housing available to low-income community members without contributing to urban sprawl.  Most importantly, however, the redevelopment of this environmentally hazardous community eyesore provided renewed hope and community pride.

For Further Information Contact:
Leonard Farr, Jr.
7477 S.W. Tech Center Drive
Portland OR 97223
Telephone (503) 639-3400
Fax (503) 620-7892
Email:  leonard.farr@amec.com