June 18, 2016 Reuse on the Horizon in Region 4
Redeveloping a Former Chemical Facility into a Large-Scale Eco-Industrial Park
The Martin-Marietta, Sodyeco, Inc. site is located near Charlotte, North Carolina. Former industrial operations included a landfill, active from the 1930s to 1973, and the DyeStuff Company, a producer of liquid sulfur-based dyes since 1936. Martin-Marietta purchased the site in 1958 and continued manufacturing dyes as well as industrial chemicals. Sodyeco, Inc. purchased the site property in 1983. After discovering contaminated soil and groundwater that could threaten human health and the nearby Catawba River, EPA added the site to the NPL in 1983.
Following excavation and off-site disposal of contaminated soil, groundwater treatment and installation of a cap, EPA deleted the site from the NPL in 2012 and deferred the groundwater treatment to the state of North Carolina’s Resource Conservation and Recovery Act (RCRA)
program.
Developers then began working with EPA and the State of North Carolina to turn a 667-acre portion of the site into ReVenture Park, the region’s largest eco-industrial park. Bringing together innovative businesses that will create hundreds of new jobs, Forsite Development is converting industrial building space into a business park focused on energy efficiency, renewable energy and environmental technology. The project is home to biomass combined heat-and-power projects, an algae-to-fuel pilot plant, an all-electric truck company, an energy efficiency training firm, a plastics recycler and a 35-acre aquaculture project, among others. In total, new investments on site exceed $14 million.
The site’s cleanup and redevelopment are already benefiting the local real estate market and proving to be an economic asset. In 2014, a 329-acre portion of the site was valued at over $8.2 million. The area also contributed $88,000 in property taxes. Long term, the site’s revitalization will highlight the benefits of Superfund site reuse for many years to come. In 2014, EPA presented the Region 4 “Excellence in Site Reuse” award to Forsite Development in recognition of the company’s commitment to safely and
sustainably reusing the site.
