Massachusetts makes $1.25M in brownfields grants

December 25, 2020 : Associated Press

BOSTON (AP) — Massachusetts has made $1.25 million in grants to support environmental cleanup at five sites around the state, with the hopes of making them safe for housing and other economic development.

The money comes from MassDevelopment’s Brownfields Redevelopment Fund. The fund supports environmental assessment and cleanup of underutilized or abandoned properties in economically distressed areas, according to a statement.

The grants will help redevelop more than 23 acres in total, create or preserve up to 312 housing units, and provide more than 800 full-time, part-time and construction jobs.

One of the $250,000 grants will aid the cleanup of a 7.7-acre site near Nubian Square in Boston for 200 units of affordable housing with commercial uses.

The other sites are a 7.3-acre former auto salvage and scrapyard in Springfield that will be converted to a wood-waste processing facility; a 65,000-square foot site in Brockton for up to 62 units of housing; the former Whyte’s Laundry property in Lynn to enable redevelopment of other nearby properties for housing or commercial uses; and a nearly 8-acre former industrial site in Seekonk for housing, commercial, or light industrial uses.