The look of several brownfield sites in Erie County will soon be changing, thanks to a grant from the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA).
The EPA is conducting a week-long tour touring cities around Lake Erie and praising their revitalization efforts.
On Thursday, the department stopped and featured Ellie.
“These things don’t just happen by chance. Erie has a special level of leadership and collaboration that gets things done,” said Adam Ortiz, regional administrator for the Environmental Protection Agency.
The Environmental Protection Agency, through the City of Erie, has invested $5.5 million in brownfield cleanup and assessment.
The Erie County Redevelopment Authority (ECRDA) plans to use $5 million to complete the Quin-T and Erie Malleable Iron sites and allocate $500,000 to the Erie Coke site.
“We’ve invested billions of dollars across the country, but we’re focusing specifically on the city of Erie and cities in the northwest part of the state to accelerate the cleanup,” Ortiz said.
Quin-T’s future could be as an academic and athletic center for the Charter School of Excellence, depending on the purchase.
“I never dreamed we’d be able to do something like this at that site, and to see it transformed and used by the neighborhood and the school is a real positive for the community,” ECRDA CEO Tina Menzin said.
Officials have already spent $4 million on cleaning and demolition of the EMI site, and the additional funding will help them complete the restoration.
By December 2025, the EMI site will be a mixed-use business complex with offices, retail and an outdoor courtyard.
“Getting this cleaned up and remodeled will allow us to bring in new business quickly. Time is money and businesses want to get up and running quickly,” Mengin explained.
To bring Erie’s history to life, several steel beams from the EMI site will be repurposed as works of art for future generations to enjoy.
“We’re excited to see these 5.5 acres filled with new people, jobs and energy, and we hope that it really becomes a driving force for the rest of 12th Street,” Mengin continued.
Mengin said the EMI ground and south wall remain contaminated and the grant will remediate that.
