Bakery Square, a major brownfield redevelopment in
East Liberty, has received a $1M grant from the state.
Gov. Rendell released the
Growing Greener II funds on Feb. 9 to pay for cleanup of the 495,000 square-foot former Nabisco plant. The
Regional Industrial Development Corporation of Southwestern Pennsylvania will use the grant, along with $335,000 of its own funds, to remove asbestos, PCBs, lead-based paint and other hazardous materials from the site. Development plans for the 6.5-acre area call for 223,000 square feet of office space, 165,000 square feet of retail and a 120-room hotel.
“This project stands head and shoulder above many others,” says Environmental Protection Secretary
Kathleen McGinty. “The Governor is making a particularly substantial investment in a beautiful structure that will come back into productive use as a community asset.”
Funding for Bakery Square comes from the state’s
Industrial Sites Reuse Program, which finances remediation of industrial sites in order to spur redevelopment of blighted land. “We’re not just cleaning up something from the past, we’re building something that will go from lifeless to something dripping with life and activity,” says McGinty.
McGinty says the state funds will help to leverage private investment required to move the project forward. “Bakery Square offers access to a large market because more than 350,000 people live within five miles of this site." The project is expected to create 1,600 new jobs.
Writer: Jennifer Baron
Source: Kathleen A. McGinty
Photograph copyright © Jonathan Greene