Ribbon cutting celebrates Canal Street apartments; NVCOG highlights brownfields program and DECD grayfield pilot

NVCOG staff reported on a ribbon cutting at 281 Canal Street in Shelton that completed a brownfield redevelopment producing 129 market‑rate apartments and extending the Shelton Riverwalk. Staff said an EPA revolving loan of $748,000 was used to clean contaminated soils and that the loan has been repaid and program income has returned to the brownfields program pending EPA documentation.

Ricardo also described a new DECD grayfield revitalization pilot grant for planning and assessments intended to prepare previously developed commercial properties for redevelopment. The program has roughly $4,000,000 available statewide, with individual awards expected to range from $100,000 to $250,000. Applications are due August 5 by noon, and DECD will announce awards in September 2026. The pilot is targeted to planning and hazardous building materials assessments (window glazing, flooring substrates, roofing, asbestos sampling, etc.) to make sites eligible for later construction funding streams and tax credits.

Why it matters: Brownfield and grayfield programs help convert previously contaminated or underused commercial sites into productive development. The Canal Street project returns cleanup funds to the program for reuse; the grayfield pilot offers planning funds to prepare sites for private‑sector redevelopment.

Budget and investment note: Ricardo described a developer investment figure in the record that is likely a transcription error; the transcript reports a multi‑hundred‑million or billion dollar number that appears inconsistent with the context. The article therefore reports the EPA loan amount ($748,000) and the number of units (129) and flags the developer investment amount as not specified in the meeting record.