Sometimes a brownfield is only skin deep
Sometimes a brownfield is just a piece of property with a bad reputation: The suspected contamination is worse than the real thing. But one has to dig below the surface to discover the depth of damage and figure out a new use for the land.
Such is the case with the American Linen property in downtown Boise. The two-story brick building and adjacent warehouse long sat empty—one of many vacant properties in what was once a bustling area of cleaning businesses and light industrial manufacturing.
What held the Grove Street area back while the rest of Boise boomed was the very real threat of chemical contamination. Yet Boise’s brownfield was only skin deep, making it possible for an interested developer to become an active one.
“It was more a matter of perception,” says Keith Donahue, brownfields program manager for the Idaho Department of Environmental Quality (DEQ). “People were worried.”
Developers interested but dubious
It wasn’t that developers weren’t interested. Many made inquiries about the property, particularly as Capital City Development Corporation (CCDC), Boise’s urban renewal agency, marketed this down-in-the-mouth section of town.
But fears lingered that the chemicals once used by the linen supply company had leached into the ground and posed an ongoing hazard. Much of the concern centered on a chemical compound known as tetrachloraethylene (PERC or PCE), which was frequently used to clean heavily soiled clothing. Another worry was that the property once housed underground storage tanks filled with diesel fuel for delivery trucks and harsh solvents for spot-cleaning difficult stains.
The only way to know for sure meant sampling groundwater and soils below the surface. So the CCDC reached out to Idaho’s DEQ to get the job done. The DEQ’s brownfields team put together an assessment to evaluate the soil and groundwater quality.
The results were better than expected. It turns out American Linen isn’t the source of contamination and the low level of chemical pollutants coming onto the property don’t pose a significant environmental threat.
That’s often the case, according to Donahue, whose brownfields program launched just a year and a half ago.
“In the majority of sites, more often than not it’s just a stigma,” he says. “The best brownfields are the ones where you don’t find a problem!”
From hot spots to hotspot
Even with the good news, in American Linen’s case, the brownfields team had to work fast. The CCDC had lined up an interested developer but needed to have the assessment finalized in just about 45 days.
It helped that it was a relatively small site and “we knew what we were looking for,” Donahue says, adding, “We streamline everything and do it as fast as possible. We also find the funding to get it done.”
These days, the old American Linen property is being looked at as Boise’s next cultural and artistic hotspot.
A recent article in The Idaho Statesman showcased developer David Hale’s vision of turning the old American Linen building into an area landmark and the anchor for an entire development. Hale even hopes to furnish the Grove Street area with a new name, the Linen District, akin to Portland’s hip Pearl District.
Hale’s plans call for redeveloping a six-block area into a mecca for restaurants, funky art galleries and urban-style cafes. Already, several businesses have arranged to relocate or open new shops there.
None of it would have been possible without the state’s DEQ brownfields team helping to assess the site—and finding the perceived pollution problems didn’t really exist.
