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Brownfields Success Stories
Birmingham Pilot Delivers on First of Promised New Jobs
Last October, the first of 2,000 projected new jobs in the North Birmingham area was one step closer to becoming a reality as KMAC, a ten-employee company that resells industrial byproducts, determined that it would relocate onto a former brownfields site in the City. KMAC bought the historic Birmingham Stove and Range site, investing $300,000 ($150,000 of which was used for site assessments), and announced that ten new people would be hired, with the expectation of hiring twenty more within nine months. The company owner predicts that he may eventually employ as many as fifty people. Experienced in the cleanup of industrial waste, KMAC spent $150,000 for environmental assessments of the property and discovered much lower levels of contamination than originally estimated. KMAC then purchased the site and proceeded with cleanup. Today, the site is providing much-needed jobs in one of Birmingham's poorest sections. An area that had not been in productive use for five years is now providing tax revenue for the City. KMAC is the first company to reclaim an abandoned industrial site within the 900-acre area targeted by a $200,000 EPA Brownfields Initiative grant. Says John Gemmill, Brownfields Project Manager with the City, "[KMAC] is the type of entrepreneurial company that is important to Brownfields development," as it is willing to take risks. "This shows what [even] a relatively small company can do." For more information on the Birmingham Brownfields Pilot, contact Barbara Caprita at (404) 562-9969.