The Michigan Department of Environment, Great Lakes, and Energy (EGLE) is awarding Brownfield Redevelopment Grants to three projects, including one in Tuscola County’s Cass City.
These projects are expected to create 32 new jobs and draw $3.6 million in capital investment. Redevelopment of brownfields – vacant or abandoned properties with known or suspected contamination – increases property values both on the revitalized site and on other nearby properties.
The EGLE grant will pay for remediation work at Cass City’s brownfield site, located at 6201 Church Street. What was once the site of a Nestle factory will become warehouse and manufacturing space to support local businesses. The plant opened as the Hires Condensed Milk Company in 1917, with Nestle taking over in 1922 and making condensed milk there until 1953. The property later hosted an auto parts manufacturer.
Those past uses are believed to be responsible for the petroleum compounds and metals in the soil. A $600,000 EGLE grant will pay for the removal of contaminated soil as well as the abatement of lead- and cadmium-based paint and asbestos-containing materials from the building.
The warehouse and manufacturing space are expected to draw $600,000 in capital investment and create nine full-time and nine part-time jobs when it’s finished in fall of 2024.
