20-acre Reading brownfield to be cleaned, redeveloped

Commercial Development Co. Inc., a leading real estate and brownfield redevelopment company based in St. Louis, bought the property formerly owned by ICI Paints on Bern Street, known by locals as the Glidden paint plant, near FirstEnergy Stadium.

ICI Paints, which produced latex solvent-based paints and resins for brands such as Glidden and Ralph Lauren, closed the 100-year-old plant in 2007. ICI Paints is now part of Akzo Nobel Corp.

Environmental Liability Transfer Inc. and EnviroAnalytics Group LLC, affiliates of CDC, will work with the Pennsylvania Department of Environmental Protection to remediate the site.

“Our acquisition of this under-utilized asset is the first step toward repurposing it for new development and improved utilization,” said Mark Hinds, executive vice president at ELT.

The buildings on the property were razed and only the foundations remain.

“It’s a great location, so we’re confident it will be redeveloped and reused as an industrial site in the city of Reading,” said Edward Swoyer Jr., president and CEO of the Greater Berks Development Fund, which had numerous discussions with CDC prior to its acquisition of the site.

Swoyer said the site has electric, gas, water and sewer and an inactive rail line.