Brownfields Cleanup Revolving
Loan Fund Pilot Fact Sheet

PILOT SNAPSHOT
Lewiston, ME	Date of Announcement: May 2000 Amount: $500,000
BCRLF Target Area: Bates Mill Complex

BACKGROUND

Incorporated in 1795, the City of Lewiston is Maine's second largest city. With a strategic location on the Androscoggin River, it developed into a major manufacturing center. As textile and manufacturing jobs moved south in the mid 20th century, however, the City's economy began to decline. The area that surrounds its major mill, the Bates Mill, is one of the poorest in the nation with a poverty rate of over 40 percent. The loss of jobs (5,000 in the Bates Mill alone) created significant unemployment in the City's downtown and riverfront areas. Lewiston was designated the first rural Enterprise Community in New England. Lewiston is a Brownfield Assessment Pilot.

BCRLF OBJECTIVES

Lewiston lacks space for development. Future redevelopment must rely on the productive reuse of brownfield properties. Overall, Lewiston's BCRLF goals include:

• Providing gap funding to revitalize abandoned/underutilized mill complexes;
• Creating and increasing the number of jobs in the Bates Mill complex;
• Easing development pressure on greenfields; and
• Expanding Lewiston's tax base by maximizing commercial re-use of abandoned/underutilized industrial properties.

The City of Lewiston's BCRLF will focus initially on the 5-acre, one million square foot complex of Bates Mill. After the initial loan for the Bates Mill cleanup has been implemented and repaid, the City will restructure its program to focus on sites throughout Lewiston, including Libbey Mill.

FUND STRUCTURE AND OPERATIONS

The City of Lewiston will serve as lead agency; the Maine Department of Environmental Protection as site manager; and the Development Department as fund manager. The City anticipates making three to five loans over the five years of the BCRLF Pilot.

LEVERAGING OTHER RESOURCES

The Bates Mill Brownfields Redevelopment Initiative has already attracted investment from:

1. the US Department of Housing and Urban Development's Economic Development Initiative;
2. US Department of Housing and Urban Development Community Development Block Grants and Section 108;
3. the US Department of Agriculture's Rural Business Enterprise Grant Program;
4. City general obligation bonds; and
5. private investment (including revenues generated from the sale of three buildings)
.

Lewiston anticipates continuing to seek funding from these sources, among others, to leverage the BCRLF.

Use of BCRLF Pilot funds must be in accordance with CERCLA, and all CERCLA restrictions on use of funding also apply to BCRLF funds.

CONTACTS

City of Lewiston Development Department
(207) 784-2951 x315

Region 1 BCRLF Coordinator
(617) 918-1210

Visit the EPA Region 1 Brownfields web site at:
http://www.epa.gov/Region1/brownfields/index.html

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