Daily
Mail Staff
State dignitaries lauded the groundbreaking today for the first voluntary redevelopment on a so-called brownfield site as a major step for both business and the environment.
Construction is officially under way
for Joe Holland Chevrolet and Imports, which is using a 3.8 acre parcel of land
formally occupied by FMC Corp. as the location for a $2.5 million service
facility.
Gov. Bob Wise said reviving antiquated industrial
sites so they can be re-used is important for economic development.
“We want to make sure sites such as this one can be
used again and provide jobs again,” he
said today.
Jim Bodamer, FMC’s site manager for the brownfield
redevelopment, said the site off of MacCorkle Avenue has remained dormant since
the company shut down the East Plant in 1985.
Chemicals and materials from other spillovers had
leached into the ground from when FMC manufactured chemicals on the site from
1948 to 1985, causing it to earn distinction as a brownfield.
FMC spent about $5 million investigating the area to
determine how to revitalize the site.
Fixing up Joe Holland Chevrolet’s plot cost about $2.5 million.
“The program is just starting to get going,” said
Bodamer, who is also working on brownfield redevelopment projects in Spring
Hill and two in Nitro. “Industry and
government can work with a local government to turn these brownfield sites into
something the public can use.”
Bodamer said today’s ceremony was the culmination of
six years worth of work on brownfield sites, dating back to when the
Legislature passed the “brownfields” law in 1996.
There are almost 100 brownfield sites that are currently
being studied or revitalized, he said.
The car service facility will occupy nearly four
acres out of the 27-acre FMC site.
Auto dealership President Joe Holland said the
46,000-square-foot facility being built on the brownfield site is a key expansion
for the company, which has outgrown its headquarters that have been there since
1956. The new facility will have 45
service bays.
The facility will be open in December and should
create about 25 new jobs, Holland said.
“For a business to remain viable, it has to meet the
needs of customers,” Holland said, flanked by his father, Joe Holland, Sr., who
started the company. “Our facilities
haven’t been convenient.”
Even the governor may pay a visit to the new
facility.
Wise rode into today’s groundbreaking in his 1965
maroon Chevrolet Corvair, a car he said rolled off the Joe Holland lot the
first year it was issued.
He said he’d stop by the facility for his “38th
year service checkup.”
Writer Josh Hafenbrack can be reached at 348-4810 or by e-mail at jhafenbrack@dailymail.com.