Project

Overview

The 7.7-acre Prime Tanning property is located in the center of downtown Berwick, Maine.  It was the Town’s largest employer and property taxpayer.  It went bankrupt in 2008 and has been vacant ever since.  The environmental unknowns has led to little developer interest in redevelopment.  The buildings have fallen into disrepair creating blighted appearance in the downtown Berwick.

Challenge

Assess and address the environmental unknowns to increase the marketability of the Site to facilitate redevelopment, while also creating jobs and increasing the local tax base.

Solution

Since 2013, Credere has been working with the Town of Berwick to develop and implement a roadmap to redevelopment.  This roadmap includes the use of a public private partnership to fully leverage the EPA Brownfields Cleanup program to address environmental liabilities at the site which represented a significant unknown and roadblock to redevelopment.  Through the use of the EPA Brownfields program, the Town was able to hire Credere to service as the Qualified Environmental Professional (QEP) to direct and oversee the environmental work at the site and implement the following activities:

• supplemental environmental assessment to confirm source areas of contaminated soil/vapor and quantities of hazardous building materials (asbestos, lead paint, PCBs, and universal wastes) present within the building,
• reuse planning and a full market study for a private developer to develop a business plan and pro forma for redevelopment,
• remedial action planning including areas for select building demolition
• a structural assessment to support demolition design
• complete contract bidding documents for remedial actions and building removal
• Bidding and contractor administration
• Oversight of asbestos abatement, select building removal, tank removal, source area soil removal, and installation of a temporary cover system

Results

In 2015, the Town acquired the property for back taxes, established a public private partnership with a private developer, Funds of Jupiter, obtained over $1.2 million in EPA Brownfields Cleanup grants, hired Credere to serve as QEP and implemented cleanup activities outlined above.  A Certificate of Completion was obtained from the Site from the Maine DEP in June 2018.  Currently, Funds of Jupiter is in the process of acquiring the Site for redevelopment into a mix of commercial, residential and light industrial uses, investing upwards of $50 million into the downtown, and increasing the local tax base.