Source: http://www.wickedlocal.com, July 26, 2017
By: Shannon Gallagher
Several vacant or abandoned industrial properties in the Brockton region will be cleaned up for redevelopment, Lt. Gov. Karyn Polito announced Wednesday.
MassDevelopment, the state’s finance and development agency, awarded Brownfield Redevelopment grants to one site in downtown Brockton and two properties in East Bridgewater, to be used for environmental assessment and cleanup.
Polito joined Brockton Mayor Bill Carpenter Wednesday in the city’s downtown Transformative Development Initiative District, where $26,000 will be allocated to NeighborWorks of Southern Massachusetts for the clean up of the property at 121 Main St., on the corner of Frederick Douglass Avenue, where the old Kresge Five & Dime building once stood.
The building was demolished in April after city officials deemed it unsafe. NeighborWorks plans to redevelop the site into 48 units of affordable housing with ground floor retail.
In East Bridgewater, MassDevelopment awarded the town $99,400 to address environmental contamination at the Eastern States Steel site at Cook and West Union streets.
The long-abandoned Eastern States Steel factory sits atop several acres of land that has, in past years, tested high in soil pollutants and other environmental contaminants.
East Bridgewater will also receive $99,700 for the environmental assessment of the Precise Engineering site located on West Union Street.
The town plans to then redevelop the Precise Engineering site for commercial or light industrial use.
These Brockton and East Bridgewater sites are three of the nine environmentally contaminated sites across Massachusetts targeted for clean-up through Brownfield Redevelopment grants in 2017.