The Charlotte, North Carolina-based developer of ReVenture Park, Forsite Development Inc., has received the United States Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) Region 4 “Excellence in Site Reuse” Award.¹ Franklin Hill, EPA Region 4 Superfund Director, presented the award during a special ceremony at the Grand Unveiling of ReVenture Park. North Carolina Governor Pat McCrory, North Carolina House Speaker Thom Tillis, and officials from the EPA were on hand.

Specifically, Forsite Development, Inc was recognized for its commitment to safely and sustainably reusing a property along the Catawba River in Mecklenburg County that was formerly contaminated by years of industrial operations. Forsite Development, Inc. worked with EPA, the state, Clariant Corporation and local partners to redevelop the 667-acre Martin-Marietta, Sodyeco, Inc. Superfund site. Clariant Corporation² acquired the site in the mid-1980s and closed the site in 2005 when it was no longer economically viable.

“Old, unused manufacturing facilities should not be liabilities,” said Tom McKittrick, principal of Forsite Development, Inc. “Developing an Eco-Industrial Park on a shuttered industrial complex is an opportunity where the private sector, public policy and environmental interests align to promote the clean energy economy. We are transforming this liability into an asset – the essence of recycling.”

ReVenture Park entered into a Brownfield agreement with NC Department of Environmental and Natural Resources in March 2013. The agreement removes uncertainties associated with future cleanup liabilities and permits suitable redevelopment of the site while continuing cleanup actions required to make the site safe. ReVenture Park reuses the site’s extensive existing infrastructure – rail and interstate access, a wastewater treatment facility, 300,000 square feet of existing industrial space, utility substations and transmission lines, and a 360-million gallon containment pond to create a platform for large-scale renewable energy and alternative fuel projects and other environmentally minded businesses. Currently there are nearly a dozen companies calling ReVenture Park home.

REFERENCES

1. EPA Region 4 created the “Excellence in Site Reuse” award to recognize those who have made outstanding efforts to reuse a Superfund or Superfund Alternative site through cooperative efforts with EPA. Selected recipients have gone above and beyond to ensure sites are reused in a manner compatible with site remedies and that makes sites’ beneficial use possible for many years to come.
2. Clariant has spent upwards of $40 million cleaning up contamination caused by previous owners.