Pensacola Awarded $1 Million EPA Brownfields Grant — Gibson School and Baptist Hospital Campus Are Priority Sites

Pensacola, FL (NewsRadio 92.3) -- The city of Pensacola has been awarded a $1 million Brownfields multipurpose grant from the Environmental Protection Agency — the city's first of its kind — with two west side properties identified as priority sites for environmental assessment and cleanup.

City Administrator David Stafford announced the award Tuesday at the city's weekly press conference, saying the city applied for the maximum grant amount in January and received the full ask.

"This is our first Brownfields multipurpose grant from the EPA," Stafford said. "They can be used for assessments, cleanup activities, Brownfield redevelopment analysis, and all those activities that are key to repurposing blighted properties."

The two priority sites named in the city's application are the Gibson School Building and the Baptist Hospital Legacy Campus, both located in the west side community redevelopment area. Stafford said the funds can be used for environmental assessment and cleanup activities across both sites, with city staff now working on recommendations for the highest and best use of the dollars.

"The two prioritized projects that we included in our application were the Gibson School Building and the Baptist Hospital Legacy Campus," Stafford said. "They can be used for environmental assessment and cleanup activities across both priority sites in the west side community redevelopment area."

The Baptist Hospital Legacy Campus has been a centerpiece of west side redevelopment conversations for years. The CRA voted earlier this month to issue a request for proposals for development feasibility advisory services for the 53-acre campus — a two-phase process involving community engagement and development analysis that will eventually feed into a formal developer RFP. The EPA Brownfields grant adds a new tool to that process by funding the environmental groundwork that typically must occur before any significant redevelopment can take place.

The Gibson School Building is a historically significant structure on the west side that has long been identified as a candidate for adaptive reuse. Environmental assessment work at the site would help determine the scope of any cleanup needed before redevelopment could move forward.

Brownfields grants from the EPA are specifically designed to help communities assess and clean up contaminated or potentially contaminated properties that have been sitting idle due to environmental concerns. Properties that qualify as Brownfields are often passed over by private developers because of the cost and uncertainty involved in environmental remediation — making federal grant funding a critical tool for getting those properties back into productive use.

Mayor D.C. Reeves is in Philadelphia this week for the nation's 250th anniversary celebration.