"The time has come," the Lawyer said,
"To talk of how and why:
Of shoes--and news--and brownfield sites--
To buy or not to buy--
And why the sea is boiling hot--
And whether pigs can fly."  Apologies to Lewis Carroll.

This case study involves 27-acre brownfield site in the Village of Johnson City, the Greater Binghamton Area, Broome County, in the Southern Tier of New York.

The site is about 2-1/2 miles north of the Susquehanna River, sits atop a sole source aquifer, and adjoins one of the major gateways through the Binghamton area.

The Ranger Paracord site was a shoe factory for 80 years and was part of the Endicott-Johnson legacy of dozens of factories that spawned the company towns of Binghamton, Johnson City, and Endicott in what was once known as “the Valley of Opportunity.”

A Newman Development entity finally purchased the Ranger Paracord site in late 2003 from a subsidiary of Millenium Chemicals Corporation—after two abortive earlier attempts dating back to 1994.  Although we are primarily in the business of developing shopping centers, both we and the local newspaper publisher thought this would make a good place to locate a new regional newspaper printing facility—all else being equal—because of the boost this would give to the local economy.

But all else had to be equal.  While the site had some major positives—including good access to three interstate highways—it also had some significant negatives.  Key negatives included high building demolition and asbestos abatement costs; high electric utility removal and replacement costs; the need to construct a costly access road; and high environmental cleanup costs and uncertainties.

Gannett was kind of in the position of the Walrus:

"If seven maids with seven mops
Swept it for half a year.
Do you suppose," the Walrus said,
"That they could get it clear?"
"I doubt it," said the Carpenter,
And shed a bitter tear.

The cleanup of the Paracord site took a lot more than half a year and “seven maids with seven mops.”

The Gannett deal could NEVER have gone forward and the project would have had NO CHANCE of succeeding absent: new authorities provided under the Brownfields Law—including generous redevelopment tax credits (all of which were earmarked for Gannett); a flexible and cooperative attitude at DEC; a willingness of Newman to limit its return on the deal to a $100K development fee and to assume most of the risks of higher-than-expected site preparation and cleanup costs; NYSEG’s willingness to greatly pare down utility infrastructure costs that needed to be paid by Gannett; and public funding for the necessary access road.

Our contract with Gannett tightly limited the development and cleanup costs that we could pass through to them, with individual and cumulative not-to-exceed (nte) limits on most cost items.

The Gannett project is a major vote of confidence in the Greater Binghamton area.  It represents, not only the revitalization of a blighted area in the heart of the community, but a $50 million investment in the local economy, 115 new jobs initially and the promise of many more, and the restoration of surrounding real estate values.

Here’s an overview of the Ranger Paracord site, which is located to the east of CFJ Park, showing 6 of the 7 old factory buildings and where the new Gannett facility will be located.

Here’s an aerial photo, from roughly the same vantage point as the site sketch, taken in the early 1990s, when the Power House building still had its twin smokestacks.  Note the highway interchange (SR-17—the future I-86) at the top (north) of the photo.

This was the Paracord Building, now demolished, which was constructed during World War II to make boots for our armed forces.

This was the Zing Building or Patterson market, now demolished, built in 1934 to house a large farmers’ market for E-J employees and later converted to manufacturing use.

This was the Mechanical Building or Rubber Reclaiming Factory, now demolished, constructed in 1927, to recycle rubber from tires for use in products ranging from heels and soles and rubber shoes to golf balls.

This was the 6-story Challenge Building—also known as the Pla-Welt Factory or Fiber Flooring Factory—now demolished, built in 1918 to produce inexpensive Goodyear stitched shoes.  It also made fiber flooring and shoe boxes from tannery wastes.

This is the Power House Building (minus its twin smokestacks), which was built in 1913.  The Railroad tracks visible to the left define the Paracord site’s southern boundary.

The Power House, will be demo’d after it is cleared of 72 PCB-capacitors and much additional electrical equipment.

The C. Fred Johnson Pavilion, more recently known as the Fountains Pavilion, was built in 1926 for the entertainment of E-J employees.  It had a dance floor that could hold 3,000 people.  It hosted the country’s top orchestras during the height of the Big Band” era.  It still stands but will be demolished shortly.

Finally, the Pagoda Pump House, which pumped the water to the Power House’s coal-fired boilers, is a unique structure, built by E-J employees around 1925.

If you looked closely at its walls, you would see that it was built with scrap materials, such as gears, chains, knives, and fire extinguishers.  The Village of Johnson City was able to secure a grant from the State to relocate this historic artifact to the adjacent CFJ Park.  The photo above shows the Pagoda in the background during a November 2004 visit to the site by Assemblyman Tom DiNapoli of Great Neck.  Assemblyman DiNapoli Chairs the Environmental Conservation Committee and was one of the prime authors of New York’s Brownfield Cleanup Law.