Brownfields Success Stories

Concrete to Cash in Indianapolis

On September 26, 1995, EPA awarded $200,000 to the City of Indianapolis to develop a Brownfields Pilot. With help and guidance from EPA, the Indianapolis Pilot is transforming a 6.7-acre abandoned concrete block factory from a tax-delinquent eyesore to a productive part of the city's tax base. When redevelopment is complete, the former site of Spickelmier Industries (appraised just after cleanup at $182,500) will be worth $2.62 million and will employ 40­60 people at a self-storage facility and a 20,000-square-foot office space and light industrial complex. Altogether, new development at the site is expected to generate $53,000 per year in tax revenue. Spickelmier Industries' concrete block factory was located on the site until the company went bankrupt in the early 1980s. After the city took ownership of the property in 1996, EPA's Brownfields Pilot financed an environmental assessment that yielded evidence of soil contaminated by two underground storage tanks, as well as asbestos present in the site's buildings. Clarification of these contaminants allowed the city to place the property on the market and began cleanup. Between October 1996 and May 1997, the city cleared debris from the site; removed the storage tanks, contaminated soil, and asbestos; and demolished the buildings. Meanwhile, the Pilot worked with three surrounding residential neighborhoods to ensure that community concerns were recognized during the planning process. The city solicited bids on the site, while stipulating that prospective developers' plans maximize the property's potential and acknowledge neighborhood needs. On May 7, 1997, the city awarded the project to 52^nd Street Realty, a corporation that has committed to investing $2.38 million to redevelop the vacant lot as 20,000 square feet of office and light industrial space and a complex of self-storage units. The new storage facility opened on July 7, 1998, and several businesses have expressed an interest in the office/industrial space whose construction is in the planning stage. For more information on the Indianapolis Brownfields Pilot, contact Mary Beth Schmucker at (317) 327-7860.