Under construction on seven acres of contaminated land, Rainier Court is a series of affordable housing units being built on a brownfield in a poor Seattle neighborhood. Before redevelopment started, the area that will be Rainier Court was a mix of dilapidated buildings, oil drums, tires, old cars, fenced-offs lots and overgrown weeds. The eyesore had been a place of criminal activity, as well as an environmental hazard with contamination from decades of industrial and manufacturing use.

 

The nonprofit group SEED (for SouthEast Effective Development) used tax credits and complex partnerships to launch the cleanup and redevelopment. To make Rainier Court possible, SEED brought together multiple organizations including King County, the City of Seattle, the EPA and CTED among other organizations. In fact, Rainier Court was the first recipient of the state’s revolving brownfield loan program.

 

To keep costs down and the project financially viable, institutional controls are being used to minimize the cleanup required. Although the project requires the expensive process of removing soil when necessary, the buildings and paving are being designed to cover up and cap as much of the contaminated soil as possible. A vapor barrier under the building and a parking garage further contain the residual pollutants.

 

The story of Albers Mill illustrates how a city can balance three sometimes competing causes: preserving a cultural resource, enabling economic opportunities and cleaning up contamination. Built in 1904, the decrepit, brick eyesore was right in the middle of Tacoma’s ambitious redevelopment of the polluted Thea Foss Waterway. The constraints of historic preservation and cost were deciding factors in whether to save or scrap the building.

 

After months of heated debate, the decision was made to keep the building under certain conditions: Albers Mill would be made an economically feasible restoration project by adding on to the existing building to allow for seismic upgrades, and to make it viable for residential and commercial use. The five-story building now offers about 21,000 square feet for apartments, and 10,000 square feet of ground floor retail space. Digging out dirt for construction of a parking garage made it possible to clean up and cap the contaminated soil around the building. Tall ceilings, large wood columns, brick walls, hardwood floors and dramatic window openings were preserved during the restoration, and the building will be placed on the U.S. Register of Historic Places.

 

Through creative financing, an innovative consent decree and comprehensive public involvement, Tacoma converted a vision into a 20-year plan to clean up and redevelop the contaminated waterfront along the Thea Foss Waterway.

 

First, the city combined money from a waterfront acquisition grant and a bond to buy the land. Then Tacoma used brownfields pilot money to accelerate its plans by starting the Foss Waterway District Authority (FWDA), the organization responsible for the redevelopment of the waterfront.

 

Next the city entered into an innovative consent decree with the state Department of Ecology. The agreement sped up the redevelopment by treating the 14 sites as one, and although the city took responsibility for the sites, it got permission to do the cleanup over time. The consent decree also made the sites more marketable by enabling potential developers to determine financial investment upfront.

 

Finally, Tacoma made its citizens a partner in the redevelopment effort. Numerous community meetings took place throughout the planning stages, especially during the programmatic environmental impact process. All this input was synthesized into a single master plan that will shape the redevelopment of the waterfront for years to come.