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By Nancy B. Solomon, AIA

 

Case Study Monarch Range Beaver Dam, Wisconsin. Completion of initial buildings: 1996 Architect and real estate developer Martin Sell, AIA, president of RKETEK.COM, a design-build firm in Juneau, Wisconsin, firmly believes architects should lead the way on brownfield projects. “The up-front work is facilitation, which is what architects do well, and the creativity architects bring to the process can open up the thinking in a room full of public officials and engineers.” Sell learned this firsthand—and prior to his founding RKETEK.COM—when working on a 14-acre property that had sat idle for years in the midst of Beaver Dam, a small rural community in Dodge County, Wisconsin. Beginning in 1896, the site had been home to Monarch Range Company, which manufactured kitchen appliances and, during World War II, munitions. In 1984, the company sold its assets to MAFCO, which soon declared bankruptcy and abandoned the property. In 1987, EPA cleaned up some of the toxins through its Superfund program. Dodge County gained ownership in 1988. The remaining contamination, however, prevented the county from selling the property. According to Sell, the project lay dormant for several years, because no one was spearheading it. In 1991, Sell approached Dodge County with a novel proposal: He would facilitate the cleanup and undertake site planning for the property in exchange for being able to buy a parcel at a time—once a client was found who wanted to build on a particular site—at its precleanup price, to be determined by an independent appraisal. The county would be responsible for the actual cost of remediation, unless third-party funding could be found, and would indemnify the developer and future owners from liability. The county agreed. Facilitation was no easy task, as the project had many participants. The key public stakeholders included the city, the county, four state agencies, and the Wisconsin and Southern Railroad Company. Private stakeholders included surrounding property owners, county and city taxpayers, environmental remediation firms, engineers, contractors, suppliers, and potential buyers and tenants. As facilitator, Sell had to make sure everyone was talking to—and understanding—each other. “We had to listen and learn, and teach the other players what was involved. What is the chemical, what does it mean?” recalls Sell. Initial environmental testing indicated inconsistent contamination of the site. “There were four or five hot spots, but other places were clean,” explains Sell. In developing the master plan, the architect considered the nature and location of contamination. For example, an area whose soil had to be excavated due to heavy-metal contamination was designated for surface parking. The environmental engineer discovered that 14 inches of fuel oil was floating on the water table serving Beaver Dam’s drinking supply. This was removed immediately, and a system of underground piping was installed throughout the site so that clean water could be cycled through the soil. Sell not only made a profit from the typical architectural and construction management fees, but also by the sale of land for significantly more than the purchase price. “We earned most of our money on this project by creating more value for the property,” says Sell. And the community profited by eliminating the blight on their neighborhood. “[Brownfields] is a market that architects aren’t tapping, because they are messy projects that are not usually published. I’m most remembered for this brownfield because it cleaned up a virtual wasteland in this community.” N.B.S.