Michigan Ag Connection - Jackson Awarded $130,000 EGLE Grant

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Jackson Awarded $130,000 EGLE Grant
Michigan Ag Connection - 06/14/2019

A contaminated property in Jackson will be redeveloped as a Popeyes Louisiana Kitchen restaurant with the help of a $130,000 grant from the Michigan Department of Environment, Great Lakes, and Energy (EGLE). The city of Jackson was awarded the Brownfield Redevelopment Grant to revitalize and safely reuse a blighted former gasoline filling station at 970 North West Ave.

Soil and groundwater were contaminated by gasoline from a leaking underground storage tank. The brownfield grant will be used for barriers and a ventilation system to prevent human exposure to harmful vapors when the site is redeveloped. The EGLE grant also will pay for demolition of a dilapidated treatment shed, asphalt removal and monitoring well abandonment.

Jackson Bean Management LLC will build a new Popeyes Louisiana Kitchen on the site. The $2 million redevelopment will create 12 new full-time jobs and 33 new part-time jobs.

EGLE partners with communities to protect public health and the environment and revitalize contaminated property. EGLE grants and loans pay for environmental investigation and cleanup on brownfields, which are vacant or abandoned properties with known or suspected environmental contamination.

More than half of EGLE's budget each year flows into Michigan communities in the form of grants, loans and other spending that supports local projects that protect public health and the environment, while spurring economic growth and creating jobs for Michigan workers in the process.

Partnerships between EGLE and communities have created more than $4.7 billion in private investment and 24,000 new jobs over the life of the Brownfield Redevelopment Program. Each brownfield grant and loan dollar invested by EGLE in 2018 to protect residents and the environment is expected to return an average of $42 to the state's economy. When brownfields are redeveloped, property values increase both on the revitalized site and on other nearby properties. Learn more at Michigan.gov/EGLEBrownfields.

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