Waste Site Cleanup & Reuse in New England
Tremont Villa
Success in EPA-Lead Targeted Brownfields Assessments
Everett, MA
(July 10, 2003)
Contacts
Before
After
Mayor of Everett with Madeline English
On behalf of the city of Everett, MA, EPA New England conducted Phase I and Phase II environmental site assessments (ESA) through the Targeted Brownfields Assessment program at the Tremont Villa property in 1998 and 1999. The property, located at 168 Tremont Street in Everett, is a former brownfields site that is adjacent to a vacant lot. Together, these two properties have been redeveloped into the Madeline English Grammar School, a playground, a parking lot, and a small open green space. The EPA ESA was valued at about $65,000. The school opening is anticipated for September of 2003.
In 1925, Nustone Products Company purchased the property at 168 Tremont Street in Everett from Edward and Hiram Gillett. In 1932 and 1940, Boston Nustone Corporation manufactured laundry tubs and tanks. In 1940, Everett Specialities Company produced beer spigots at this site. In 1955, New England Retinning Company was located at this site until about 1971 at which time Albert Cardello of Car-Por Realty purchased the property and the building became a commercial function hall (Tremont Villa). At the start of the project, the brownfields site consisted of a 1.42 acre parcel, with a one-story, 15,800-square foot commercial building. The southeastern portion of the property consisted of an asphalt-paved parking area.
In 1996, the Everett School Building Commission selected the two adjacent properties (the former brownfields site and the adjoining vacant site) as the location for the Madeline English School, a playground, a parking lot, and a small open green space. The Everett School Board decided to name the grammar school in 2000 in honor of Madeline English. Madeline English played third base for the Racine Belles, a baseball team in the All American Girls Professional Baseball League, from 1943 to 1950. She was named an All Star in 1946 and 1948. She worked for 27 years as a teacher and guidance counselor at the Parlin Junior High School in Everett, MA. In1988, the Baseball Hall of Fame in Cooperstown, New York recognized her achievements on the field by inducting the All Stars from the All American Girls Professional Baseball League.
The Phase I ESA, which was completed in July 1998, and the Phase II ESA, which was completed in April 1999, were conducted by the EPA’s contractor, Tetra Tech NUS, Inc. Results from these ESAs showed that a limited cleanup of soil and groundwater (particularly, cleaning up volatile organic compounds (VOC) plumes in groundwater, metals and organic compounds found in subsurface soils, and extractable petroleum hydrocarbons (EPH) compounds and lead found in soils) was needed at the brownfields site. The actual cleanup costs were $470,000, which included investigations (and ESAs), regulatory filings and reports, groundwater evaluation and risk assessment and soil remediation.
In 1997, the city was awarded $11 million in funding from the School Building Assistance Bureau (SBAB) of the MA Department of Education to pay for 60 % of the remediation and redevelopment of the two properties. In 1999, the city of Everett obtained ownership of the brownfields site due to tax foreclosure of the former owner. In August 1999, the city of Everett awarded the contractor, Barletta Engineering Company, to conduct the remediation and redevelopment of the two properties. About 90% of the brownfields portion of the property was utilized as a parking lot. The total acreage of the combined properties is between 4.5 and 5 acres. The total project cost $18.5 million, including remediation and redevelopment of the property (not including the ESAs.) The Madeline English School, a school that can hold 950 children between pre-Kindergarten and 8th grade, will have a grand opening ceremony in September 2003. Ms. English will be in attendance at the grand opening ceremony.