The transformation of a toxic site into stores and homes

BERWICK, Maine — Jamie Blood recalls being dumbfounded by what he saw when he returned to his hometown in 2015 after a six-year absence.

Dilapidated, graffitied buildings sat at the center of the once-bustling downtown in York County, where Prime Tannery had operated for 78 years and employed more than 600 workers at its peak before going bankrupt in 2008.

“I remember calling my wife and just saying, ‘Wow,’” said Blood, who worked at the tannery briefly after high school. “The factory used to be pretty much the whole town, and the downtown had become just a shell of what it was. I felt a little depressed.”

Today Blood is part of the downtown’s resurgence, having opened Corner Point Brewing Co. in 2018 across the street from the former tannery. His is one of the 15 new businesses that have opened downtown since the cleanup and redevelopment started on the contaminated tannery site in 2016. The developers plan to complete more than 267 apartments and 37 commercial spaces on the site, known as The Edge, over the next three to five years.

The land is being redeveloped as part of the federal Brownfields Program, which provides funding to clean up contaminated properties for reuse.  Brownfields differ from Superfund sites, another EPA program for typically abandoned properties with hazardous waste that the U.S. government plans to help clean up and manage.

Jamie (left) and Kelly Blood of Corner Point Brewing Co. own one of the 15 new businesses in downtown Berwick started since a former tannery brownfield site was redeveloped. Credit: Courtesy of Corner Point Brewing

Brownfield redevelopment is occurring throughout Maine and the United States on sites with likely environmental contamination that can be cleaned up with federal and private funding. As brownfields are remediated, the cleaned site can breathe new life into a town like Berwick by adding much-needed housing and retail space.

The U.S. Environmental  Protection Agency estimates there are more than 450,000 brownfields across the country. The agency figured that every $1 it spends to remediate brownfields yields up to $20 in economic benefits.

The Maine Department of Environmental Protection has identified more than 525 brownfields in the state in various stages of remediation. But there likely are more sites that could qualify as brownfields, said Rick Vandenberg, vice president of operations and senior hydrogeologist at Credere Associates, a Westbrook-based environmental engineering and remediation consultancy that is working on the tannery cleanup.

“A brownfield doesn’t have to be the big old woolen mill that is now defunct and sitting vacant and shuttered,” he said. “It can be a small, underutilized property that was formerly an auto body repair center. Someone might be concerned about putting a building there because of potential environmental contamination.”

The brewery, two gyms, a butcher shop, salons, medical practices and restaurants have opened downtown, most on the redeveloped tannery site. The brownfield project and site redevelopment already are providing benefits, including a higher tax base and a place residents want to come to, said Town Manager James Bellissimo. The town also is gaining residents. The population reached 7,950 in 2020, according to the U.S. Census Bureau, having grown almost 10 percent since 2010.

“To take something that was a vacant site and turn it into something that’s active and usable and beautiful — it’s a driving force behind everything we’re doing because it’s going to increase the value of the downtown,” Bellissimo said.

There are 13 buildings in the development on the nearly 12-acre former tannery site. Three of the buildings already occupied have a combined value of $3 million, Bellissimo said. That is only an estimate since they haven’t been valued yet for tax purposes. But when the project is completed, property tax revenue could approach $273,000 annually, Bellissimo said.

“This project has fundamentally changed the community,” said Vandenberg, who lives in Berwick.

A row of new businesses in downtown Berwick on the grounds of the former Prime Tannery. Credit: Lori Valigra

Cleaning and redevelopment to top $52M

Prime Tannery left behind heavy metals, dry cleaning solvents, petroleum from underground storage tanks and other contaminants. Vandenberg estimated that the tannery cleanup involved recycling 1,052 tons of metal; removing 3,100 tons of general waste; and disposing of 600 tons of contaminated soil, 60 tons of asbestos waste and six tons of fly ash waste from its stack. Only one original tannery building was rehabbed, the largest, L-shaped one.

The site was cleaned to a depth of at least one foot, over which a protective layer of granular fill and loam, a building foundation or a road was placed. The protective layer keeps people from exposure to any remaining contaminants deeper in the soil. Vandenberg said that people would need to have direct contact with the contaminants to be harmed, so the cover layers will keep them safe.

Cleaning, remediating and developing the site is expensive, and is expected to exceed $52 million, Bellissimo said. The town received two EPA grants totaling $1.2 million, plus $200,000 from the Southern Maine Planning and Development Commission, for the cleanup. That money was matched by the Fund of Jupiter, which was the owner of the site when cleanup began, Bellissimo said.

Great Falls, the developer, will invest more than $50 million for the mixed-use housing, retail buildings and green space, said Julie Curran, managing director of the construction company. Three of the buildings are complete, with the remainder scheduled to be done from the end of this year until five years from now.

So far all of the commercial and apartment units in the completed 12 Sullivan St. and 8 Main St. buildings are booked, Curran said. The apartments, ranging from efficiencies to two bedrooms, are market rate, with monthly rents of up to $1,975 for a one-bedroom apartment, according to prices listed on apartments.com.

Pictured is The Edge, a redevelopment project at a former tannery brownfield site in downtown Biddeford. The mustard-colored building is at 8 Main St., a street built by developer Great Falls Construction Inc. that bisects the property. Credit: Courtesy of Onyx Owl

‘They’ve been pretty transparent’

After the factory closed in 2008 and the abandoned buildings blighted downtown Berwick, the town’s selectboard in 2013 began the steps to get EPA brownfields money. To get public EPA money, it had to obtain ownership of the property from then-owner Fund of Jupiter, which it did in 2014.

The town initially planned to work with Fund of Jupiter, which also is a private developer, to build out the mixed-use site with housing, commercial buildings and green space. Those plans fell through, and, in 2019, Great Falls Construction of Gorham purchased the former tannery property and became the developer.

Because the property is located on a brownfield, the Maine Department of Environmental Protection’s certificate of completion includes some deed restrictions, Vandenberg said. That includes not installing private wells, maintaining the cover system and not digging gardens. However, it may be possible to have above-ground container gardens, he said.

New apartments being constructed where the former Prime Tannery once stood in downtown Berwick. Credit: Lori Valigra / BDN

One key to the success of the project was getting feedback from town residents in the transformation of the property, Vandenberg said. When the town took ownership of the former tannery property, it worked with regional planning commissions, community members and town officials. The 13-member Envision Berwick committee was established in 2014 to continue revitalization work for the whole downtown and encourage community participation.

During remediation, Credere had to keep dust from spreading off the site, so everything had to remain wet, Vandenberg said. His company was responsible for removing any contaminants up to three feet deep, including piping, slabs and a buried petroleum container.

Blood, of Corner Point Brewing, who is across the street from the project, said the dismantling of the buildings, remediation and rebuilding have been done well.

“Great Falls kept everyone in the know about what is going on through Facebook and emails,” Blood said. “They’ve been pretty transparent.”

One of the earlier businesses to locate in the area, he was excited to see a street food kitchen, Aroma Joe’s coffee, a chiropractor and a yoga studio populate the new buildings on the site. He expects more people to visit and move to the area, which is about a half-hour drive from Portsmouth, New Hampshire, and beaches, and is close to routes 16 and 95.

“Hopefully there will be more businesses here, the residential units will get built up, and there will be more people and foot traffic,” he said.

Blood said he did a lot of homework and asked a lot of questions before locating his brewery across from the brownfield. While he feels confident about the cleanup work done across the street at The Edge, he urges other business owners and potential residents looking to locate at other brownfield remediation sites to make sure a reputable company has cleaned the site.

“I would live on this brownfield site,” he said. “But others, I don’t know. It would depend.”

Lori Valigra is an investigative environment reporter for the BDN’s Maine Focus team. She may be reached at [email protected]. Support for this reporting is provided by the Unity Foundation and donations by BDN readers.