By JIM KRENCIK, Batavia Daily News (NY)

The financing structure of the proposed residential, commercial and brewing campus at Ellicott Station remains unresolved, but the design of the mixed-use project has been finalized.

“Subtle changes” forwarded by Savarino Companies to meet the requests of the State’s Homes and Community Renewal - one of the multitude of public and private financiers of the $20 million projects - met the approval of the Genesee County Planning Board Thursday.

Courtney Cox, a development associate at the Buffalo-based developer-contractor, said the guidelines of HCR led to the project’s residential units being increased from 51 to 55. The reasoning was that the state sets a square-footage maximum for single-bedroom units to ensure funding has the maximum impact, and four more could be fit into the proposed footprint.

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For the entire article, see

http://www.thedailynewsonline.com/bdn01/closing-still-looms-but-ellicott-station-plans-all-set-20180810

By Jonathan D. Epstein, Buffalo News (NY)

The city agency responsible for cleaning up, managing and redeveloping brownfield properties has barely owned the a century-old former manufacturing property in Riverside for a few weeks, and the property's neighbor already is interested in buying a significant piece of the 7-acre site.

The Buffalo Urban Development Corp. bought the former sewing machine and television manufacturing plant at 308 Crowley Ave., paying $50,000 in June to take on the abandoned site.

The property includes both vacant land and about 300,000 square feet of existing but deteriorating buildings that can't be reused. Officials planned to demolish most of the brick buildings that still remain – except for a historic clock tower – before remediating and clearing the site for future use, said BUDC President Peter Cammarata.

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For the entire article see

https://buffalonews.com/2018/08/03/budc-has-interested-buyer-for-part-of-crowley-facility/

By Frank Carini,  eco’Ri News (RI)

The place was a complete mess, but a trio of determined women was going to buy it anyway, as soon as the seller removed about 50 tattered mattresses from the dilapidated building.

The 2.7-acre property was covered with wind-blown trash. More than a year later, the three women are still picking up broken glass. In fact, when they ask volunteers to help with the property’s rehabilitation, children are not welcome, at least not yet.

They ripped up poison ivy by gloved hand, and brought in a tractor to help tear down the overgrowth. The empty factory with a brick facade, largely vacant since the 1990s, has no running water or electricity, is covered in graffiti, has been the victim of arson, and has been gutted of all scrap metal.

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For the entire article, see

https://www.ecori.org/smart-growth/2018/8/3/new-urban-farm-gives-back-to-community-literally

By Mary Ellen Godin, Meriden Record-Journal (CT)

Nearly 20 years after it was vacated, environmental cleanup has begun at the former Meriden-Wallingford Hospital to allow it to be made over into a senior living complex.

Workers are remediating the 5.6-acre site, which was found to be contaminated with PCBs, metal, inorganic contaminants and petroleum, according to an environmental study. The cleanup will also include removing two underground storage tanks and hazardous materials from the former boiler room, as well as asbestos.

“The city has committed to completing remediation and hazardous materials abatement to advance the adaptive reuse of the building and parking garage in cooperation with a private developer,” said city Economic Development Director Juliet Burdelski. 

The abatement project is scheduled for completion within 170 working days, during which time access to the site is prohibited. Soil cleanup using the EPA funds will begin in early 2019. 

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For the entire article, see

http://www.myrecordjournal.com/News/Meriden/Meriden-News/Cleanup-begins-at-old-Meriden-Wallingford-Hospital.html

By Dennis Phillips, Jamestown Post-Journal (NY)

The public comment period is now open for the proposed apartment project at the Gateway Center in Jamestown.

Southern Tier Environments for Living received two grant awards totaling $790,000 in October for the Gateway Lofts project and the Dunkirk Renovation and Ownership program. The state grant for the Gateway Lofts project was for $620,000. 

Thomas J. Whitney, Southern Tier Environments for Living executive director, said because the project is still in the design phase it is unknown how many apartments will be constructed and how much the total project will cost. He said they will be applying for additional funding for the project through the state Homes and Community Renewal Agency, but it is undetermined how much funding they will be applying for. The housing project will be inside the Gateway Center, located at 31 Water St.

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For the entire article, see

http://www.post-journal.com/news/local-news/2018/04/comment-period-open-for-lofts-project/

By Luke Marshall, Waterbury Citizen’s News (CT)

The borough is seeking grant funds to investigate and remediate a potentially contaminated property on Rubber Avenue to help a business possibly expand.

The Board of Mayor and Burgesses last week authorized Mayor N. Warren “Pete” Hess to pursue a $25,000 brownfield remediation grant from the Environmental Protection Agency.

Naugatuck Economic Development Corporation President and CEO Ronald Pugliese, who sits on the Naugatuck Valley Council of Governments Regional Brownfields Partnership, said the grant would be used to investigate whether the property at 251 Rubber Ave. is contaminated and do any remediation if needed.

The property, which is owned by Ramos Cecilia Paiva Trustee, is 0.79 acres and has a 3,285-square-foot building on it, according to the property card. The property is assessed at $166,250.

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For the entire article, see

https://www.mycitizensnews.com/news/2018/04/borough-seeks-grant-to-help-clear-way-for-business-to-expand/

By Nicky Hickling, WBNG TV-12 News (Binghamton, NY)

Governor Andrew Cuomo announced Thursday that nearly $17 million has been awarded to three affordable housing developments in the Southern Tier. He says the funding will create a total of 202 affordable homes. 

Governor Cuomo's office released the following information regarding the 435 State Street project in Binghamton:

"These 48 affordable homes will be constructed on a vacant Brownfield site in the North Chenango River Corridor Brownfield Opportunity Area, which is part of a local Waterfront Revitalization Plan Area that is experiencing significant redevelopment including an active neighborhood retail sector. It will include two Community Service Facilities occupied by Catholic Charities of Broome County Employment Program and Health Home Division, which will provide job training through a café or coffee bar to allow clients to receive hands-on experience interacting with the public. Encompass Health Home will also occupy the space and will provide services to Medicaid eligible adults and children with chronic medical and/or behavioral health conditions."

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For the entire article, see

http://www.wbng.com/story/38163239/47m-awarded-to-transform-former-big-lots-property-into-affordable-housing

News12 Brooklyn (NY)

A vacant lot on Driggs Avenue could soon become home to new condominiums.

It's currently a so-called brownfield site -- a former industrial lot that needs excavation and cleanup.

Residents say they're excited to see it spruced up so long as it doesn't disrupt their neighborhood.

The 40 new housing units will range in size from studios to four bedrooms. Many of them will have outer spaces inspired by McCarren Park, according to the developer.

Construction is expected to begin this winter and conclude in 2020.

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For the entire story, including a video, see

http://brooklyn.news12.com/story/38625030/former-williamsburg-industrial-lot-to-become-green-condominiums

by Diana Nelson Jones, Pittsburgh Post-Gazette (PA)

It has been seven years since McKees Rocks announced a mixed-use plan for 52 acres of a former Pittsburgh & Lake Erie Railroad site. The site was targeted in 2003 as a focus of the borough’s strategic economic revitalization.

The McKees Rocks Community Development Corp. and borough council had worked out a plan for its reuse with Trinity Development, which contracted a design and a market study on which it based the funding it attracted.

The plan was to include two buildings for light industrial use that would provide more than 1,000 jobs. But the developer has stepped away from the plan, and its advocates now say that 15 years of economic development effort may be in jeopardy.

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For the entire article, see

http://www.post-gazette.com/business/development/2018/07/15/McKees-Rocks-Trinity-Development-CSX-intermodal-terminal-Community-Development-Corp/stories/201807150088

by Richard Liebson, Rockland/Westchester Journal News (NY)

The state Department of Environmental Conservation is seeking public comment of a brownfield cleanup at the White Plains mall, which is to be torn down and replaced by a mixed-use development.

WP Mall Realty, LLC, has applied for the designation, which could qualify it for cleanup funding as it moves forward with plans to build Hamilton Green on the 3.74-acre site at 200 Hamilton Ave.

Plans call for the crumbling 1970s era mall to be demolished and replaced with a mix of apartments, retail and restaurant space, outdoor cafes, a craft food hall, a co-working enterprise, a publicly accessible elevated green space and parking. 

The site recently received new Transit District zoning from the city.

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For the entire article, see

https://www.lohud.com/story/news/local/westchester/white-plains/2018/07/30/dec-seeks-comment-brownfield-cleanup-white-plains-mall-site/797235002/