It’s no secret that vacant and abandoned properties can be a tough sell. Old commercial and industrial properties often come with their share of problems, from environmental factors such as groundwater and soil contamination to potential health hazards like asbestos and lead paint.

When repurposing these buildings, these issues can present liability issues for the buyer and paying for an environmental assessment can be a hindrance to the seller. To help take some of the guesswork and expense out of such transactions, the City of Washington is looking for new projects that could benefit from the Environmental Protection Agency’s Brownfield grant program.

“Usually, with any commercial transaction, there’s environmental due diligence that has to be done,” said Darin McClure, president of Mid-Atlantic Associates, Inc., a firm specializing in engineering and environmental solutions. “It typically starts out with a very simple phase one audit, and it can go into more complicated testing, and there may need to be cleanup. What this grant does is give municipalities money so they can go out and perform these initial assessments on some properties that might not move forward without it.”

In 2018, the City of Washington was among 144 communities nationwide selected to receive grant funding through the program, which is designed to help communities rehabilitate and repurpose dilapidated properties for either public use or economic development. All told, the city was allocated $300,000, which could be used to cover the cost of environmental assessments, develop cleanup plans for sites and conduct public outreach.

High on the priority list for these funds was an environmental assessment of the city block that once housed the old Dr Pepper plant. With the city interested in building a new police station on the site, the Brownfield grant covered the cost of the assessment.

“When they put the grant together, they listed about a half-dozen sites they wanted to look at,” McClure said. “The primary one was the Dr Pepper plant, another was a Hotel Louise and the other ones primarily focused on the gateway to the city.”

To help administer the grant, the city is working with Mid-Atlantic Associates. McClure says testing at the site of the future police station came back with negligible issues. On Monday, the Washington City Council selected Mosley and Associates to provide design and engineering services for that project.

With that assessment taken care of, the committee overseeing the grant process is exploring new projects that could benefit from funding through the Brownfield program. Potential projects discussed during a meeting Thursday included the Hotel Louise, the former site of Pamlico Chemical Company on the west side of town and commercial properties near the intersection of Bridge and West Fifth streets belonging to the family of Robin Moore.

Of the $300,000 grant, McClure says approximately $220,000 is still available, with a two-year window before the grant expires. For the city, McClure says the program helps encourage the redevelopment of properties, at the same time removing some of the barriers that might prevent interested buyers from following through with purchases and rehabilitations.