Richmond Times Dispatch

Article Date: Monday, May 9, 2005

Mixed-use plan in works for N.Va. land that once held a toxic rayon plant

By: Calvin R. Trice

A riverfront tract that was one of Virginia's worst toxic zones is being marketed for a new life as a mixed-used development.

Local officials in the northern Shenandoah Valley are buffing the image of the former Avtex Fibers plant site to be presented in an open house this week.

When Avtex was the nation's sole producer of carbonized rayon yarn, it racked up thousands of environmental violations for polluting the air, soil and water in and around Front Royal. It was declared a federal Superfund site in the mid-1980s, giving it emergency cleanup status.

With the Superfund detoxification process set to end in four years, the Front Royal and Warren County Economic Development Authority has begun to reclaim the newly clean parts for new uses.

Starting with a grand opening scheduled for Saturday, one area of the site will have a new official name: Royal Phoenix. The Economic Development Authority has pegged it for mixed-use development expected to include technology enterprises, a culinary and wine institute, and a hotel and conference center, said Paul Carroll, the authority's executive director.

"We're in the process of transitioning from remediation and cleanup to redevelopment of the site," Carroll said. "The remediation and cleanup will continue, but we've reached a period where land is available."

To attract businesses to the site, the authority hired New York-based North American Realty Advisory Services, a firm that specializes in reviving blighted buildings and contaminated lands.

The Front Royal site's image could use the makeover. Especially the name change.

By the time the state closed Avtex in 1989, the plant had sent a host of toxic chemicals into the local environment. Chemicals spewed into the air from a 365-foot smokestack, poured into the Shenandoah River and pooled into numerous contaminated lagoons on the site.

Among the agents that contaminated the 440 acres were cancer-causing asbestos, PCBs, mercury, lead and carbon disulfides, which can cause nerve damage and other illnesses.

It was considered one of the nation's worst Superfund sites. Cleanup costs are expected to total more than $100 million, most of which are being borne by Chicago-based FMC Corp., which owned the site from 1963-76. The plant's last owner went bankrupt soon after the state revoked its water permit after citing it for more than 2,000 environmental violations.

Saturday is expected to mark a milestone in the Avtex site's recovery. Royal Phoenix will occupy about 31 acres of land on which the Environmental Protection Agency has concluded work. The development will try to take advantage of Front Royal's location on the edge of the Shenandoah Valley and proximity to Northern Virginia and Washington, Carroll said.

"We think that Front Royal and Warren County are in a unique position," he said. "It's kind of a dual gateway -- an eastern gateway to the national capital for the hospitality business and a tourism gateway to the west for the valley."

Spiros Antoniadis, a North American Realty vice president, believes the recreational-tourism potential for the area is largely untapped, given its proximity to vineyards and Shenandoah National Park, as well as its location off Interstate 66.

"We definitely think that there's a market there," Antoniadis said. "It's a good opportunity for developers who are trying to look to the future."

The authority is considering buying insurance for businesses that will cover cleanup costs for any unforeseen environmental hazards encountered at Royal Phoenix, Carroll said.

Besides Royal Phoenix, another 30 acres of the former Avtex area is set to open as a soccer-field complex next year. Upon completion of the EPA cleanup in 2009, most of the remaining acreage nearest the river will be set aside as a nature conservancy.

Turning a renowned toxic badland into a locus of community hope has taken dedicated cooperation between local and federal officials, Carroll said.

"That's why we've been able to move this along," he said. "We have a unique situation in that our town, county and the EPA have been working really well together."