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| The ribbon cutting ceremony for the new MEDQ green headquarters took place on Earth Day 2005. |
The Michigan Department of Environmental Quality (MDEQ) is relocating
150+ employees to an $8.7 million green office building at the largest Brownfield
Renaissance Zone project ever undertaken in Michigan — the 156-acre former
Detroit Arsenal Tank Plant (DATP), now known as the Warren Commerce Center.
Historically significant, the DATP was commonly known as The Arsenal of Democracy, because one-quarter of all U.S. armored tanks used to defeat the Axis forces in World War II were built there. The plant closed in the 1990s.
A $650,000 brownfield single business tax (SBT) credit defrayed the extraordinary costs that brownfield sites present and leveled the playing field to discourage sprawling to undeveloped land or greenfields.
This signature project is important for three reasons:
1)1) This is the state of Michigan’s first green building. The green, or environmental, features of this 70,000- square-foot building include: capturing stormwater for irrigation, highly efficient electrical and mechanical systems, and environmentally-sensitive planting materials. Plus, 75 percent of the construction debris was recycled.
2) This brownfield site is a model for public/private partnerships. Stakeholders included ProVisions LLC, the U.S. Army, U.S. EPA, MDEQ, the state of Michigan, the city of Warren, ASTI Environmental, Colliers International, Cunningham-Limp Company and Fifth Third Bank. More than 2,000 employees from other firms were also relocated to the Warren Commerce Center.
3) The Governor’s Land Use Task Force was involved. This project is one of the first initiatives ever implemented from the Governor’s Land Use Task Force, stating that future state offices would reside on brownfield sites.
The ribbon cutting ceremony for this project was also planned to commemorate Earth Day on April 22. BFN
Doug Brown is director of development at ASTI Environmental in Brighton, Michigan.
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