Seekonk gets state grant to clean up former Attleboro Dye Works site

January 3, 2021 : The Sun Chronicle, by Stephen Peterson

SEEKONK — The town has received a $250,000 state grant to clean up the former Attleboro Dye Works site to market the property for housing, commercial or light industrial uses.

The land off Maple Avenue runs nearly eight acres and has three industrial buildings, totaling 105,000 square feet of space.

The buildings have fallen in disrepair and were hit by a fire several years ago.

The grant amount was the maximum for site assessment and/or remediation funding.

The grant is part of $1.25 million awarded from the Brownfields Redevelopment Fund to support the environmental assessment and cleanup of five underutilized or abandoned sites that may have contaminants present.

Once complete, the five projects are projected to redevelop a combined 24 acres, create or preserve up to 312 housing units, and provide roughly 802 full-time, part-time and construction jobs.

MassDevelopment, the state’s finance and development agency that works with businesses, nonprofits, banks, and communities to stimulate economic growth, oversees the Brownfields Redevelopment Fund.

The fund helps to transform vacant, abandoned, or underused industrial or commercial properties by financing the environmental assessment and remediation of brownfield sites in Economically Distressed Areas.

From the fund’s inception in 1998 through last fiscal year, it has supported 747 grants for a total investment of more than $108 million.