The Reminder.com - Ludlow Mills Receives DEP Grant to Aid Redevelopment

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The U.S. Department of Environmental Protection (EPA) has awarded Westmass Area Development Corporation, owner and developer of the Ludlow Mills project, a $200,000 brownfields clean-up grant representing another sign of progress in the continuing redevelopment of the 1.4 million square-foot redevelopment project.

Westmass acknowledged the strong support of their application by Congressman Richard E. Neal, who helped secure the EPA grant.

The grant award was part of a competitive process and Ludlow Mills is one of 18 projects in Massachusetts to receive EPA Region One grants in this round. Westmass will use the funding to immediately begin removing asbestos from old mill buildings on the site.

According to Kenn W. Delude, president of Westmass, the funds will augment state funding from the Office of Energy and Environmental Affairs for environmental remediation work that did not cover the removal of asbestos.

"This is another significant step forward in the redevelopment of the largest brownfield mill redevelopment project in New England. Without this kind of remediation and the securing of essential state grants through the administration of Gov. Deval Patrick and our local legislative delegation Westmass would not have been able to attract and retain HealthSouth, which will be relocating to the Ludlow Mills next year," Delude said.

Westmass recently announced the plan for HealthSouth to invest $27 million in building a new rehabilitation hospital relocating 53 beds and 240 employees to the Ludlow Mills site by the end of 2013. Plans to redevelop an existing mill building for a $22 million 83-unit senior independent housing project on the site were also recently announced.

Both projects will result in hundreds of construction jobs, with work expected to begin later this summer.

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