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The town of Stratford, CT has been awarded a $500,000 grant from the state for clean-up of the U.S. Baird Property, where a brewery is planned.

The Governor announced last week that the Connecticut Department of Economic and Community Development (DECD) has awarded more than $16 million in loans and grants for several brownfields projects throughout the state, including the Stratford project.

The Stratford grant would go toward a hazardous building materials report, remediation and abatement at the site, which is projected to cost a total of $574,000. The grant is pending state bond commission approval.

Two Roads Brewery Co. just purchased the site for $2.85 million.

Two Roads company co-founder Brad Hittle said it is expected that the brewery will create 15 new jobs within a year and 70 jobs overall.

"Our brewery tasting room will retain the manufacturing esthetic, with bridge cranes and booms being kept and old pictures of Stratford’s manufacturing might throughout.  We want to honor this proud history.”

The governor announced that Stratford had received the grant last Friday.

“Cleaning up Connecticut brownfields is an important component of our economic development agenda. These contaminated sites are a blight to their communities and significantly damper development and prosperity for adjacent sites,” Gov. Malloy said. “Investing in these redevelopment efforts is smart policy—we create jobs and thriving communities, expand our tax base, and clean up pollution in Connecticut.”

This round of awards includes $8.7 million in loans and $7.5 million in grants for projects encompassing commercial and industrial remediation and expansion; affordable, disabled, student, and workforce housing; train stations and transit oriented development; and mixed-use developments with hotel, residential and retail space. It is estimated the state funding will leverage over $300 million in additional private and public investment.

Funding will go directly to municipalities, businesses, developers and regional development agencies and can be used for environmental assessment, planning, design, remediation, demolition, construction and acquisition. The state also offers a third party liability protection program for eligible developers of brownfields.

“There is a renewed commitment for brownfield redevelopment in Connecticut, and DECD is leading the way,” DECD Commissioner Catherine Smith said. “In the last six months alone, we’ve gotten more than $33 million in brownfield funding to our cities and towns and other parties that are helping to capitalize on the economic potential of these sites. Cleaning up these sites so they are ready for redevelopment is vital to our efforts to spur economic activity and make our communities more vibrant and accessible.”

The brewery is expected to open by September 2012.

Stratford Star