The commission authorized port CEO Lisa Lefeber to ink the $17.75 million federal Better Utilizing Investments to Leverage Development (BUILD) Transportation program grant agreement from the U.S. Department of Transportation and to award a $2.7 million construction contract with SRV Construction Inc. to prepare the site for development. Commissioners also directed the port’s staff to seek out construction bids of the second phase of the Norton Terminal/MTCA environmental cap.
These moves are made less than 18 months after the port obtained the former Kimberly-Clark mill site and has been working to remove over 180,000 tons of contained soil and building rubble.
“It is great news that project design has reached nearly 100% for the new 33-acre Norton Terminal,” said port Commissioner Tom Stiger. “Getting the federal BUILD grant executed allows us to move this critical economic development and cleanup project forward, creating near-term construction jobs and restoring long-term jobs to the site into the future.”
The port expects to break ground in mid-July, with a new terminal opening in fall 2022. The project is estimated to generate 800 construction jobs and support about 950 direct, indirect and induced jobs, according to the port.
