05/09/2006

Record-Eagle/Douglas Tesner
Several tanks that once stored asphalt -- before that fuel for Lake Michigan car ferries -- could be removed from Elberta's waterfront so that it can be redeveloped with the help of a state brownfield cleanup grant and loan from the state. This picture was taken in Frankfort across Betsie Bay from the once thriving port village.

Elberta site gets brownfield grant

By PATRICK SULLIVAN

psullivan@record-eagle.com

ELBERTA — This once-thriving port village could soon shed some of its industrial past with the removal of three asphalt drums at the Betsie Bay outlet to Lake Michigan.

The state last week approved a $735,387 Brownfield Redevelopment Grant and a $250,000 Brownfield Redevelopment Loan for three cleanup projects at the site of an abandoned railroad yard next to what used to be a Lake Michigan car ferry port.

The money likely will boost a long-awaited redevelopment of the village's waterfront.

Developer Scott Gest said the asphalt storage containers could be removed "fairly soon" and he hopes to have the development's first phase — including a marina and housing — constructed by next summer.

The Michigan Department of Environmental Quality announced the grant and loan last week as part of a state environmental cleanup and job-creation initiative. Redevelopment of the Elberta shoreline is expected to create as many as 300 jobs, state officials said.

The money may be meant to cleanse and create jobs in Elberta, but it's also welcome news across Betsie Bay in Frankfort, where the giant asphalt storage containers have long blighted the view.

"They were really excited when they found out they were going to be gone last winter, so I'm sure they'll be really excited when they finally get rid of them," said Frankfort's mayor, Richard Bayer.

Gest originally hoped to have the storage tanks removed over the winter. Plans called for their removal during cold weather while the remaining asphalt was frozen. He's now exploring a different kind of removal that is suitable during warm weather.

Gest said the 300 jobs and $100 million in private investment are anticipated as the development matures. He said he expects that much money will be invested into the project over the next 10 to 20 years.

The grant will also be used to remove a warehouse from the 30-acre property and to restore sections of a roundhouse building — a decaying building once used to repair railway cars that will be renovated for public and private space.