Michigan DEQ awards Hazel Park $2 million Brownfields redevelopment loan

The Michigan Department of Environmental Quality (DEQ) recently announced it will provide a $2-million loan to the City of Hazel Park, Michigan to fund environmental response activities and a vapor mitigation system at a former landfill in the city.

The loan, provided through the DEQ’s Brownfield Redevelopment Program, is part of rehabilitation and redevelopment efforts at the site, which are expected to create 200 to 300 jobs, both part-time and full-time. Developer Ashley Capital has projected investments of $26 million into the area, which is located just northeast of the Hazel Park Raceway property. When completed, the site will house a building of nearly 575,000 square feet suitable for manufacturing, storage and distribution, and the project is expected to revitalize one of the city’s main corridors.

Brownfields are vacant or abandoned properties that with suspected or confirmed contamination, and the DEQ’s Brownfield Redevelopment Program helps local governments take steps to address that contamination on sites with proposed redevelopment schemes.