As Meijer expands across the Midwest, we face different developmental and environmental challenges in each new location. The same can be said when opening a new store on a former brownfield site, which is a place that used to be home to heavy industry. This was the case with the Wauwatosa, Wisc. Meijer.
Redeveloping brownfield sites has the advantage of re-using existing infrastructure rather than developing new land. The Wauwatosa Meijer was built on the site of an old zinc and aluminum die-casting facility that closed in 2009 after operating for more than 50 years. By that point, the site had been affected by a suite of contaminants.
In an effort to return the brownfield site to productive use for the community, we remediated soil and groundwater to Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources (WDNR) standards. We also installed an engineered barrier and sub-slab venting system to prevent future exposure to any residual impacts that could exist in the ground. The entire investigation, demolition, and remediation process took about 3 years to complete.
The Wauwatosa Meijer opened in August 2015 and is one of our Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design (LEED)-certified green buildings.