DNR program helps communities with brownfields (UPDATE)

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By Joe Lanane

The state Department of Natural Resources will pitch in $100,000 of the estimated $1.1 million needed to clean up and clear a site in Brookfield to make way for a Target retail center. And even though the DNR’s contribution is small, the developer says it’s vital to the project.

“That’s just a drop in the bucket compared to the rest of the cleanup, but absent these programs, projects in many cases could not be successful,” said Tony Barranco, retail development director for Minneapolis-based Ryan Cos. “Every little bit helps when you’re trying to do such a broad redevelopment project.”

The former Quebecor World Print plant, 12821 W. Bluemound Road, has been vacant since 2006. The city of Brookfield requested bids Thursday for removal of asbestos and an underground storage tank from the site.

The city will contribute $4,000 worth of staff hours to the removal projects, in addition to the $100,000 from the DNR’s site assessment grant program and $16,000 from the site’s former owner, World Color Press.

The contributions barely cover 10 percent of cleanup and demolition, but getting money from a variety of sources adds up, officials said.

“The key is finding all the loose change in the sofa,” said Darsi Foss, section chief of DNR’s Brownfields and Outreach efforts. “There is no golden ingot anymore for developers to rely on, but if we can pile all the money on top of one another, that seems to get these brownfield properties turned around.”

Foss said having the DNR help pay for initial cleanup eases the burden on developers.

Dan Ertl, director of Brookfield’s community development department, said the DNR’s site assessment grant program is an important tool to attract investors.

“It’s essential in these economic times with depressed real estate conditions we’re facing that we have a public-private partnership of this type,” Ertl said. The site assessment grant money “is particularly critical in order to remediate and redevelop this site.”

Although dependent on city approval, Barranco said the proposal for the Target project should be finalized by next spring. That would allow site demolition to start next summer, with construction complete 10 to 12 months after that, he said.

Barranco has worked on bringing a Target project to Franklin and a Gander Mountain to Waukesha. The Milwaukee-area native said big-box retail developments have succeeded on former industrial sites.

“If you’re looking for large tracts of land, many of them are large former industrial sites,” he said. “Many come with large amounts of contamination, and in order to be successful in redevelopment, you have to be prepared to do that.”

Barranco said his company has developed a number of brownfield sites in the past two years. And the site assessment grant program is generating interest in similar sites from many other communities, said Shelley Fox, DNR grant specialist.

Last year, she said, 80 communities sought site assessment grant assistance, including Brookfield, and 44 were awarded money. Applications for next year’s assessment grants are due Nov. 8, and Fox said $1.5 million will be awarded.

“I see this as a huge incentive for cities to address these properties just sitting there,” Fox said. “By cleaning up what was once there, they can redevelop the property and put it back on the tax roll to get some more money for their community.”