The capital city was once again honored for breathing new life into old industrial properties
TRENTON -- The capital city was once again honored for breathing new life into old industrial properties.
Trenton won its seventh national Phoenix Award -- more than any other city in the United States -- for transforming a brownfield site on East State Street into a new park and housing development.
Brownfields are properties, often in inner cities or aging industrial towns, that have hazardous contaminants that make them difficult to redevelop for new uses.
The Phoenix Awards are annually awarded to groups that have been able to revitalize blighted or contaminated areas.
"I am proud to accept this Phoenix Award on behalf of the City of Trenton," Mayor Eric Jackson said in a statement. "My administration is dedicated to investing in our neighborhoods through creative development that improves our city and the lives of our residents."
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The city for years worked to rehab what was known as the V&S, Thropp and Standard Roofing sites near P.J. Hill Elementary School.
The abandoned turn-of-the-century Thropp Brothers Machine Shop was acquired by the city in 1988 in a foreclosure sale. It is now the home of the new Greg Grant Park, a 1.45-acre park with a brightly colored playground, basketball court, short walking trail and picnic pavilion.
File photo of the former Thropp Brothers machine shop, the site of the city's new Greg Grant Park. Funds for the cleanup and $1.7 million park construction were made possible through a $350,000 grant from the state Green Acres program, $250,000 from the county, $500,000 from the federal Community Development Block Grants program and $301,303 in grants from the Environmental Protection Agency.
Across the street, the dilapidated row homes and old Greg Grant Park were redeveloped into 20 affordable single-family homes known as East Trenton Homes.
The $4.3 million project was funded in part by a $3.5 million grant from the Balanced Housing Grant/Loan Program, $85,000 in Regional Contribution Agreement funds, $712,626 from the Better Community Housing of Trenton's "100 Homes" Campaign and $260,o00 from the county.
Trenton has previously won awards for Waterfront Park (1999), Crane Site (2001), Lafayette Yard Hotel (2002), the Battle Monument area (2004), Hutchinson Industries (2008) and the former Magic Marker/Gould Battery site (2010).
Cristina Rojas may be reached at crojas@njadvancemedia.com. Follow her on Twitter @CristinaRojasTT. Find The Times of Trenton on Facebook.