Former Bryants building update

People are starting to notice some activity at the former Bryant Grinder building, which is owned by Springfield Regional Development Corporation.

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Asbestos Abatement work is scheduled to begin at the former Bryant Grinder site on Monday, April 11th. The abatement work is being funded through a U.S. Environmental Protection Agency Cleanup Grant awarded to the Springfield Regional Development Corporation. The abatement design documents are available to review at SRDC’s office, 14 Clinton Street, Suite 7, Springfield, VT. Members of the community are encouraged to submit public comments to Bob Flint by writing to the above address, e-mailing bobf@springfielddevelopment.org, or attending a public hearing being held on April 11th at 5:00pm at the Springfield Town Hall.

March 24, 2016 Former Bryants Building Update – 3/24/16 Filed under: SRDC — admin @ 3:44 pm Folks are starting to see some activity at the former Bryant Grinder building, which is owned by SRDC. We have several moving parts, which are starting to come together! ENVIRONMENTAL – SRDC received a $200,000 EPA cleanup grant last year for this property. A partial draft Corrective Action Plan, focusing on the ends of the property, has been completed and we have bid out the first phase of asbestos abatement, which will take place in the south end of the existing building (the end towards the interstate). Dec-Tam, a firm from Massachusetts, is expected to start work during the week of April 11th. Some of the activity that has been going on involves arranging for temporary power for that end of the structure, to allow for this (the asbestos) work to proceed. The building was a shell, stripped of its wiring/infrastructure, when SRDC acquired it, so we’re having to put the pieces back together, for the spaces we’re going to retain. We also, recently, removed a large amount of hazardous wastes that had been left as well as performing other cleaning out of the south end area. ROOFING – The areas we’re focusing on, to date (the north end, by the Police Station, which is currently rented by Imerys, for storage) and the south end, are the portions of the building in the best condition. As the locals will remember, those were the most recent additions and have held up the best in the years since the building was last heated. The Melanson Company has started doing repairs to the roof in the south end, to synchronize with the asbestos work that Dec-Tam is undertaking. OTHER WORK – SOUTH END – We anticipate doing additional construction/demolition work this summer in the south end, to stabilize this area as well as preparing it for future use. There are roof breaches nearby and we need to move quickly to avoid any damage to the “good” parts of the building and separate it from the rest. THE REST OF THE BUILDING – We are focusing on putting the ends of the building back together first, because they are in the best condition and have relatively minor environmental issues. A complicating factor, particularly parts of the rest of the building, is the disconnection of the roof drains from the Town’s stormwater system – something the State ordered to the Town to do prior to our acquiring the property, to allow the the community to renew its Downtown Designation. This has done a significant amount of structural damage to a large portion of the middle parts of the building. There are also more involved contamination concerns as well, which we are still working to assess. HISTORIC PRESERVATION – SRDC has also retained a historic preservation consultant and has submitted a broader proposal to the VT Division of Historic Preservation that addresses the long-term plans for the property, which would result in removing roughly half of the current facility, resulting in 3 separate buildings. That proposal is currently under review. SUMMARY – Our expectation is that SRDC will be investing around $500K into the Bryants building between now and Labor Day, mostly in the south end of the current structure. The intent is to have this area (which is app. 35K sf) available to market for redevelopment/reuse. We are in early conversations with some potential prospects and expect more to emerge as the space gets closer to being usable. If anyone has any questions I can answer, feel free to email me at bobf@springfielddevelopment.org or call 802-885-3061.