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Southern Market Report
Southern Briefs
Region 6 Program Blazes Trails
New Orleans HUD Grants Get Results
Region 6 Program Blazes Trails
In 2004, U.S. EPA Region 6 leveraged $285.5 million for brownfield redevelopment
by its local programs. Other notable accomplishments for the region:
• It is the first region to make five Brownfields Cleanup Revolving Fund
(RLF) loans in a year.
• It is the first region to have a signed Memorandum of Agreement with
all the states within its jurisdiction — Arkansas, Louisiana, New Mexico,
Oklahoma and Texas.
• Its selection rate for brownfield grants improved 300 percent over 2003.
• It hosted several training workshops, programs and conferences in 2004,
including a “Brownfields Redevelopment Along the Border” conference
in El Paso, Tex., three grant-writing workshops, an environmental-insurance
seminar and a real estate seminar
• It created a Land Reuse Pilot grant using the Regional Administrator’s
discretionary funding of $45,000 in 2004. Texarkana was the first recipient.
• It initiated a voluntary de-obligation of state brownfield grant funds
for Superfund cleanups, working with state partners to de-obligate $1.7 million.
New Orleans HUD Grants Get Resultswnhomes
The $43.5 million American Can project in New Orleans converted a former industrial
property to a mixed-use development including a 60,000- square-foot grocery
store, smaller commercial tenants, on-site parking and 260 rental units of housing.
In 2003, the city reported 372 jobs as a result of the project. Financing for
the project from HUD included a $1 million Brownfields Economic Development
Initiative (BEDI) grant and a $5 million Section 108 Guaranteed Loan.