Brownfields 2003 Grant Fact Sheet

Jefferson Davis Artist Lofts LP, Houston, TX

EPA BROWNFIELDS PROGRAM

EPA's Brownfields Program empowers states, communities, and other stakeholders in economic development to work together to prevent, assess, safely clean up, and sustainably reuse brownfields. A brownfield site is real property, the expansion, redevelopment, or reuse of which may be complicated by the presence or potential presence of a hazardous substance, pollutant, or contaminant. On January 11, 2002, President George W. Bush signed into law the Small Business Liability Relief and Brownfields Revitalization Act. Under the Brownfields Law, EPA provides financial assistance to eligible applicants through four competitive grant programs: assessment grants, revolving loan fund grants, cleanup grants, and job training grants. Additionally, funding support is provided to state and tribal response programs through a separate mechanism.

CLEANUP GRANT

$200,000 for petroleum
EPA has selected Jefferson Davis Artist Lofts, LP, for a cleanup grant. The cleanup grant will be used to address petroleum issues on the site of an historic, but now abandoned, public hospital so the building can be renovated into loft-style living and workspace for low-income artists and their families.

COMMUNITY DESCRIPTION

Jefferson Davis Artist Lofts, LP, was selected to receive a cleanup grant. Grant funds will be used to clean up the Jefferson Davis Hospital site, which is located on a 1.6 acre site in Houston, Texas. Between 1840-1890, the City of Houston used the site and the surrounding five acres as an official city cemetery. In 1890, the cemetery had no more capacity and the site was neglected and fell into disrepair. The property was used as a park in the 1920s, and the city built its first hospital for indigent care on the site in 1924. Underground storage tanks onsite were used to fuel ambulances and possibly for backup fuel supply to the boilers and incinerator. The hospital building is now abandoned and has become a magnet for the homeless and for gangs, and an attractive nuisance for youths. Cleanup of the property will help eliminate the immediate visual blight, trigger investment and cleanup of properties in the surrounding neighborhood, and create jobs.

CONTACTS

For further information, including specific grant contacts, additional grant information, brownfields news and events, and publications and links, visit the EPA Brownfields web site at: www.epa.gov/brownfields.

EPA Region 6 Brownfields Team
214-665-6735
http://www.epa.gov/earth1r6/6sf/bfpages/sfbfhome.htm

Grant Recipient: Jefferson Davis Artist Lofts LP, TX
612-333-9012

Prior to receipt of these funds in fiscal year 2003, Jefferson Davis Artist Lofts LP has not received funding for brownfields grants.

The cooperative agreement for this grant has not yet been negotiated; therefore, activities described in this fact sheet are subject to change.