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EPA Honors Bank of America

Release Date: 01/26/2004
Contact Information: Dawn Harris-Young, (404) 562-8421, harris-young.dawn@epa.gov

In Commeration of the 2nd anniversary of the Small Business Liability Relief and Brownfields Revitalization Act Today, the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), in commemoration of the 2nd Anniversary of the Small Business Liability Relief and Brownfields Revitalization Act, honored Bank Of America at a ceremony in downtown Atlanta. Bank of America was selected because of its initiative in facilitating the cleanup and redevelopment of a former Brownfields property. The project, Dynamic Metals Lofts, now under construction, is located on a former industrial site on Edgewood Avenue in downtown Atlanta. It was selected for this occasion because it is representative of the voluntary response of local communities to address urban blight and revitalize their neighborhoods that was envisioned in the legislation The project is being developed by Bank of America, in partnership with the Historic District Development Corporation of Atlanta, a minority-owned corporation. The $10 million mixed-use building will house nine retail units and seven residential units at the sidewalk level, with two upper floors of 16 residential units each. The property borders on the Martin Luther King, Jr. Historic District and fronts onto Edgewood Avenue in an area where residential, commercial and light industrial land uses coexist side by side. Past industrial uses of the property include a laundry, service station, and Dynamic Metals recycling activities, now idled for two years. The project is slated for completion in the summer of 2004. The Small Business Liability and Brownfields Revitalization Act expands EPA's Brownfields Program, boosts funding for assessment and cleanup, enhances roles for State and Tribal response programs, and clarifies Superfund liability. Spurred by new incentives in the legislation, communities are finding that many former industrial sites, such as the Dynamic Metals Lofts property, can now be cleaned up and made attractive for safe, productive new uses.