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FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Aug. 31, 2023
Heath Bobick, EGLE Brownfield Coordinator, [email protected], 517-281-6457
Jill A. Greenberg, EGLE spokesperson, [email protected], 517-897-4965
EGLE grants to help businesses open and create new jobs in Bay, Saginaw, and Tuscola counties
The Michigan Department of Environment, Great Lakes, and Energy (EGLE) is awarding Brownfield Redevelopment Grants to projects in Cass City, Monitor Township, and Swan Creek Township. These projects are expected to create 32 new jobs and draw $3.6 million in capital investment. The EGLE grants will pay for remediation work at these brownfield sites:
10950 Swan Creek Road, Swan Creek Township, Saginaw County
The home of a former gas station and auto service center will become the home of a new gas station with a restaurant and convenience store. A $750,000 EGLE grant will pay to remove soil and groundwater contaminated by petroleum compounds from the old station. The grant will also pay for special gaskets and stormwater controls to keep the contamination from spreading and for a vapor mitigation system. The new gas station will be the only one for nearly three miles. The township says it will draw $2 million in capital investment and create five full-time and two part-time jobs. Plans call for the work to be finished in September 2024.
1912 South Euclid Avenue, Monitor Township, Bay County
A vacant and contaminated former gas station site will be turned into a Tim Horton?s coffee shop with help from a $300,000 EGLE grant. The grant will pay for the removal and disposal of contaminated soil and for a vapor mitigation system in the new building. It will be a drive-through only with outdoor seating and lighting. Bay County Executive Jim Barcia says the heavy traffic in the area made this site a priority, saying ?We are grateful for the new investment and EGLE?s brownfield redevelopment funding to get this property to be an active business location again that will change the face of the neighborhood.? The new Tim Horton?s is expected to draw $1 million in capital investment and result in 17 new full- and part-time jobs. Construction is scheduled to be finished by the end of the year.
6201 Church Street, Cass City, Tuscola County
What was once the site of a Nestle factory will become warehouse and manufacturing space to support local businesses. The plant opened as the Hires Condensed Milk Company in 1917. Nestle took it over in 1922 and continued making condensed milk there until 1953. The property later hosted an auto parts manufacturer. Those past uses are believed to be responsible for the petroleum compounds and metals in the soil. A $600,000 EGLE grant will pay for the removal of contaminated soil as well as the abatement of lead- and cadmium-based paint and asbestos-containing materials from the building. The warehouse and manufacturing space are expected to draw $600,000 in capital investment and create nine full-time and nine part-time jobs when it?s finished in fall of 2024.
More than half of EGLE?s budget each year flows into Michigan communities through grants, loans and other spending that supports local projects, protects public health and the environment, ultimately creating economic growth and jobs for Michigan workers. Redevelopment of brownfields ? vacant or abandoned properties with known or suspected contamination ? increases property values both on the revitalized site and on other nearby properties. Overall, in 2022 EGLE provided $20.7 million in brownfield funding to 67 projects statewide.
EGLE?s Remediation and Redevelopment Division provides financial and technical assistance including grants, loans, tax increment financing and free site assessments to facilitate the redevelopment of brownfield properties.
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