IndyCar Race Engine Design Company Building New Facility On Former NYC Brownfield Site

Cleaning up its polluted brownfields is proving to be a commercial boom for New York City’s real estate market where space is always scarce and at a premium. The newest high profile business to take advantage of this cleanup is the IndyCar race engine design company ayton Performance.

Mayor Michael Bloomberg, Daniel Walsh, director of the NYC Office of Environmental Remediation, and Ethan Bregman, owner and engineer of ayton Performance announcing that ayton will open its new race engine design facility on a former brownfield site remediated under the New York City Brownfield Cleanup Program.

ayton will build its new facility in the Williamsburg section of Brooklyn on Metropolitan Avenue. The property was left vacant for 27 years until last February when it was enrolled in the NYC Brownfield Cleanup Program.

The environmental cleanup is expected to be completed by the end of this month with development and construction to follow. The new facility is expected to open next summer, expanding ayton’s work in designing racecar engines, and consulting services for companies including Porsche, Honda, and General Motors.

Ethan Bregman, owner and engineer at ayton, announced at the press conference in front of the construction site that the “project has moved forward smoothly and our development has kept on schedule.”

Bregman praised the cleanup saying, “I’d recommend the brownfield cleanup program to anyone considering building on contaminated land in New York City.”

Once the cleanup is completed, the site will receive a New York City Green Property Certification. ayton then plans to hire eight new employees to fill positions including three high-tech permanent jobs.

ayton is an impressive company with its race engines having won several American and World Championships, including the 24 Heures du Mans in France, the Rolex 24 at Daytona, and world GT2 titles with clients including GM, Porsche, and McLaren.

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EPA Set to Spend Millions for Projects and Job Training in Environmental Clean Up

Redevelopment image courtesy of Woonasquatucket River Watershed Council, R.I.

In its continuing efforts to clean up America’s brownfields, the Environmental Protection Agency has just announced that it will award $55 million in supplemental funding to qualified loan/grant applicants, in addition to currently operating projects.

The agency also announced that it will provide about $6.8 million in funding to be invested to train workers to clean up brownfields sites, which may be contaminated by hazardous chemicals or pollutants. The goal is to turn these sites into revitalized and productive properties.

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EPA Launches Grants Initiative to Clean Up Brownfields Across the Country

A Lawrence, Mass. Brownfield transformed into the Dr. Nina Scarito Park.

WASHINGTON, D.C.- The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency is announcing the availability of an estimated $111.9 million in grants to help communities clean up polluted sites known as Brownfields.

The grants include $74.6 million from the EPA Brownfields general funding program, and $37.3 million from the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009.

Communities in 46 states, four tribes, and two U.S. Territories will share in these grants to help revitalize former industrial and commercial sites.

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