Like so many typical industrial, Midwestern cities, the City of 

Springfield, Ohio suffered an economic downturn in the 1970s and 

80s, with the closure of some of its longest-running industrial facilities. 

Some of those facilities sat idle or underutilized for decades despite 

their enviable locations, with developers held at bay by fears of liability 

for any residual contamination. But today, through the efforts and 

determination of the city, its partnerships with the state and federal 

Environmental Protection Agencies (EPA), and its collaboration with 

the private sector, Springfield is undergoing a transformation. Within 

the last few years, the city has seen the redevelopment of some of its 

most significant brownfields in projects that have leveraged hundreds of 

millions of dollars and created a renewed economic outlook.

Among Springfield’s most dramatic examples is the former Bayley 

industrial facility, a 1.17-acre site used for wrought iron manufacturing 

for more than a century. In spite of the property’s prime location, on a 

ridge with beautiful views of Buck Creek and the Veteran’s Memorial 

Park, it had only been used for warehousing and light industry since the 

Bayley facility’s closure in 1984. 

In 2002, Springfield’s two competing hospitals formed a partnership to 

build a comprehensive cancer treatment center. At the time, area cancer 

patients had to travel to Columbus or Dayton for treatment. Originally, 

these partners planned to develop on an unused greenfield. When the 

city suggested the former Bayley site, the hospitals acknowledged it as a 

perfect location, but also expressed several reservations. They questioned 

whether the site’s suspected contamination could be removed to 

commercial standards, let alone those for a health facility. There was also 

doubt as to whether the site could be prepared quickly enough to fit their 

tight redevelopment schedule, given the complications often associated 

with contaminated land. To ease these concerns, the city held a meeting 

with hospital representatives, the State of Ohio EPA (OH EPA), and other 

project stakeholders. The city and OH EPA explained how brownfields 

can be safely redeveloped to even hospital standards and the availability 

of liability protections at the state and federal levels. 

With a go-ahead from all parties, the city performed a full environmental 

investigation of the property, using $30,000 of a $200,000 U.S. EPA 

Brownfields Assessment Pilot grant awarded to Springfield in 1999. 

This investigation revealed contaminants including volatile organic 

Springfield, Ohio

continued 

From the Ground Up, 

Springfield Builds 

Momentum in Redeveloping 

its Brownfields

Springfield’s new cancer treatment center offers a 

tranquil setting for patients and guests.

JUST THE FACTS:

• Two partnering hospitals looking 

to build a new cancer-treatment 

center questioned whether a former 

industrial site could be cleaned to 

commercial standards, let alone 

those for a health facility.

 • The city held a meeting with hospital 

representatives, OH EPA, and other 

project stakeholders to explain 

how brownfields can be cleaned 

to even hospital standards and the 

availability of federal and state 

liability protections.

• Cleanup took less than three months, 

and the site became the first enrolled 

in the state’s Voluntary Action 

Program—under a Memorandum 

of Agreement with U.S. EPA—to 

receive a Covenant Not to Sue letter 

from OH EPA.

• Less than one year after the site’s 

cleanup, Springfield’s $10 million, 

state-of-the-art cancer treatment 

center opened its doors, offering 

patients local access to chemo and 

radiation therapies.
Brownfields Success Story Solid Waste EPA-560-F-09-020

Springfield Builds Momentum in Redeveloping its Brownfields and Emergency February 2009

Springfield, Ohio Response (5105T) www.epa.gov/brownfields/

continued 

“With brownfields communities 

you get a lot of pessimism; people get 

resigned that nothing will change. Now we 

have all this momentum, and you can see the 

change in people’s perceptions. People are 

knowledgeable and enthusiastic about the 

projects going on. We’ve gone from a time 

of no change to where former 

industrial properties are being 

seen with potential.”

—Shannon Meadows, 

Executive Assistant 

to the City Manager

compounds (VOCs), total petroleum hydrocarbons (TPHs), polyaromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs), other 

heavy metals, asbestos, and two underground storage tanks (USTs) used for heating oil. Cleanup 

involved UST removal, soil excavation, and the use of clean soil to fill excavated areas. To help fund 

the more than $800,000 cleanup, the city used approximately $300,000 from a $1 million U.S. EPA

Brownfields Cleanup Revolving Loan Fund (BCRLF) grant awarded in 2002. The entire cleanup 

took less than three months, and the site became the first enrolled in the state’s Voluntary Action 

Program (VAP)—under a Memorandum of Agreement with U.S. EPA—to receive a Covenant Not 

to Sue (CNS) letter from OH EPA. The CNS assures the developers that they will not be held liable 

in the unlikely event that any pre-existing contaminants are found after the state’s safe cleanup 

determination.

On August 2, 2004, less than one year after the site’s cleanup, 

Springfield’s new, state-of-the-art cancer treatment center opened its 

doors. This $10 million facility offers patients access to chemo 

and radiation therapies, and outpatient oncology; and houses a 

community resource library, a prayer/meditation room, and 

natural gardens that provide a peaceful environment for 

both patients and their visitors. The treatment rooms also 

incorporate natural lighting into their design, which provides a 

comfortable atmosphere and reduces energy consumption.

Like the Bayley site, Springfield’s former SPECO-Kelsey 

Hayes property had an industrial legacy going back to the 

1800s, when the site’s facility was used to build hydraulic 

turbines for the Mast-Foos Manufacturing Company. In 

1916, after the property’s use for nearly a decade as a brewing 

facility, the Steel Products Engineering Company (SPECO) 

began operations on the seven-acre site. During World War II, the 

facility transitioned to military production, which continued during the 

Vietnam War, when the plant was used to assemble helicopter components for the U.S. Department 

of Defense. The facility shut down in the late 1970s, when the company consolidated and transitioned 

its operations to another part of the city. The idle property was purchased by a private owner who 

converted the plant into a cold-storage facility that operated until the late 1990s. The city wanted to 

perform environmental investigations on the property using its 1999 Brownfields Assessment Pilot 

grant, but the owner refused site access.

Eventually, the site’s owner was willing to cooperate with a private developer that expressed interest 

in purchasing the property for cleanup and resale. Following negotiations with the owner and 

potential buyer, the city conducted initial environmental assessments. More detailed assessments 

were performed using approximately $30,000 of a $400,000 U.S. EPA Brownfields Assessment grant 

received by Springfield in 2004. These assessments revealed contaminants including petroleum, 

asbestos, PCBs, lead, and PAHs in the soil. The developer purchased the property once site 

investigations were complete.

The city entered into a Cooperative Redevelopment Agreement (CRA) with the site’s new owner 

in which the city would fund and oversee most of the cleanup, and the owner would ensure the safe 

closure of the site’s underground storage tanks. In this arrangement, the city provided a $35,000 
Brownfields Success Story Solid Waste EPA-560-F-09-020

Springfield Builds Momentum in Redeveloping its Brownfields and Emergency February 2009

Springfield, Ohio Response (5105T) www.epa.gov/brownfields/

CONTACTS:

For more information contact

U.S. EPA REGION 5

(312) 886-7576

Visit the EPA Brownfields Web site at:

www.epa.gov/brownfields/

Demolition of structures underway on the 

former SPECO Kelsey-Hayes site.

community improvement grant; and used $750,000 from the state’s Clean 

Ohio Assistance Program, $156,000 from the Brownfields Cleanup Revolving 

Loan Fund, and a $200,000 Brownfields Cleanup grant awarded by EPA in 

2004 to demolish structures and remove contaminants. In October 2006, as 

they had for the former Bayley property, the OH EPA issued a Covenant Not 

to Sue on this former industrial site.

With cleanup complete and liability protections in place, the property was 

resold in January 2007 to a local, industrial gas supplier with plans to relocate 

their regional headquarters to the site. 

As part of the CRA between the city and prior owner, profits from the 

property’s sale were split evenly; the city’s proceeds were used to return 

capital to the BCRLF and provide the city with resources to transform other 

local brownfields. Construction of the company’s new headquarters was 

completed in Spring 2008.

The successful cleanup and reuse of the former Bayley and SPECO-Kelsey 

Hayes brownfields, which represented some of the city’s oldest industrial 

sites, have helped to catalyze other redevelopment projects in downtown 

Springfield—including a 40-acre site being transformed into a $350 million, 

regional medical facility. And on the site of a former wire and spring 

manufacturer, the city used an EPA Brownfields Assessment grant to fund 

environmental investigations and develop a cleanup plan. With cleanup complete, the site’s owner plans 

to return the property to industrial use.

“We’ve done some amazing work in this community,” explains Shannon 

Meadows, Executive Assistant to the City Manager. “This was a 

program that was struggling back in the late 1990s. With brownfields 

communities you get a lot of pessimism; people get resigned 

that nothing will change. Now we have all this momentum, 

and you can see the change in people’s perceptions. People 

are knowledgeable and enthusiastic about the projects going 

on. We’ve gone from a time of no change to where former 

industrial properties are being seen with potential.”