Whirlpool suggests ‘strategic demolition’ for shuttered Fort Smith plant

A Whirlpool vice president said Tuesday (May 12) that a successful redevelopment plan for the company’s shuttered manufacturing plant and associated 95 acres will likely require “strategic demolition” and a plan to “repurpose” the property into smaller parcels.

Jeff Noel, vice president of communications for Whirlpool, was in Fort Smith to update the Fort Smith Board of Directors on redevelopment plans for the property and on pollution mitigation on and around plant property.

Benton Harbor, Mich.-based Whirlpool Corp. closed the refrigerator manufacturing plant in June 2012, which at the time employed about 1,000, but was home to more than 4,500 jobs at its peak. Later that year it was made public that trichloroethyclene – a cancer-causing chemical – was found in and around the plant. Whirlpool has been working to monitor and remove the chemicals, with oversight of the work handled by the Arkansas Department of Environmental Quality. ADEQ issued its first remedial action plan December 2013.

PROPERTY REDEVELOPMENT
As to redevelopment of the 95 remaining acres and the 1 million square foot manufacturing building that remains on the Whirlpool site, Noel told the Board that it is not likely to find a single buyer who will use the entire site.

Columbus, Ohio-based Spartan Logistics acquired the 620,000-square-foot warehouse facility adjacent to the large manufacturing facility. Spartan and its associated companies provide “one-stop shopping” to many Fortune 500 companies with package handling, light manufacturing, packaging assembly, inventory controls, shipping and other needs.

Company founder Ed Harmon said the entire space is now occupied by four companies who employ up to 300 people.

Noel said Tuesday that “strategic demolition” and dividing the property into 12 or more parcels would “create a 95 acre industrial park” and may be the best opportunity for returning jobs to the area. He said Whirlpool is eager to work with city staff, area chambers of commerce and other groups on a “plan of action” for the property.

“Over the course of the next year we need to get a buyer,” Noel told The City Wire after the meeting when asked if Whirlpool had a timeframe for trying to sell the property.

Tim Allen, president and CEO of the Fort Smith Regional Chamber of Commerce, welcomed the idea of “chopping it (Whirlpool property) up into different uses.” He said the challenge with the redeveloping the property is that it is near neighborhoods, is a large facility and has the stigma of a pollution history.

“Those things don’t necessarily help us in marketing the property. … So the key is to find a strategy, with the right owner, to make the property attractive,” Allen said.

QUARTERLY POLLUTION REPORT
Noel said the TCE mitigation effort is progressing well. He and Mike Ellis, with ENVIRON, the company hired by Whirlpool to manage mitigation efforts, outlined key points in the process. Those are, according to a report from Whirlpool:
• Chemicals to breakdown TCE have decreased TCE concentrations in groundwater by approximately 69% in Area 2 and 3, 70% in the Neck Area and 66% in Area 1, during the first quarter of 2015;

• The first quarter reductions represent improvements of 14%, 15% and 16%, respectively, since the fourth quarter of 2014;

• The TCE plume beneath the neighborhood to the north of Ingersoll Ave remains separated from the plume beneath the Whirlpool property;

• 86% of monitoring wells in the south plume and 79% of wells in the north plume exhibit either little or no TCE or a decreasing or stable TCE concentration trend;

• The overall areas of the south plume and north plume have decreased approximately 3% and 5%, respectively, since the fourth quarter of 2014 monitoring;

• There continues to be no known TCE impact to offsite soils, surface water or sediment, and health exposure risks remain unchanged; and

• Risk estimates based on groundwater and soil vapor data continue to show no health risk from TCE vapors.

Noel said 48 of the 50 property owners in the original plume area have settled with the company, and he expected one more to settle Tuesday. Settlement talks with two non-profits in the area are “productive,” he said.

Homeowners in the settlement receive 100% of their property devaluation plus 33% of the devaluated amount. For example, one homeowner had a $90,000 property value prior to the TCE pollution, with that value lowered to $43,000 after the pollution was known. Whirlpool paid that person $64,000 to cover the $47,000 loss plus 33% of the loss.

Fort Smith Director Tracy Pennartz asked Noel several questions about the settlement. After the meeting, Pennartz told The City Wire she was uncertain about the fairness of the settlement, but said “if they (homeowners) are satisfied, I’m satisfied.”