One step at time, the Alton Park Community makes the transition from an industrial area to a greenway.
And the city of Chattanooga announces a federal grant, a land swap and a new industry.
MILTON JACKSON, ALTON PARK COMMUNITY ACTIVIST "This is the answer I've been waiting on."
Long time residents of the Alton Park neighborhood like Milton Jackson, can remember when it was home to dozen heavy industry plants.
They went away as the city changed from a manufacturing base to insurance and tourism in the 70's and 80's.
But the ruins of old buildings remain: an eyesore and unusable for the most part.
Now the next step in recovery---a commercial business and a greenway.
DAN THORNTON, DIR, CHATTANOOGA GENERAL SERVICES "One of the respondents, which probably the best proposal, is a property exchange..and within that property exchange..the city is going to pick-up about a 53 acre greenway by Chattanooga creek on 38th down towards Workman."
That includes the old Chattanooga Coke and Chemical site.
A grant from the Environmental Protection Agency will be used to clean-up a brownfield and create the greenway.
But there's a more interesting facet of the plan for job seekers.
DAN THORNTON "Also within this exchange is a potential for up to 60 jobs with wages from 14 to 20 dollars an hours."" It's a hi-tech, as you describe it..a hi tech salvage business."
That company is LKQ Salvage, which has similar operations in other states.
Milton Jackson and other long-time residents got a preview at a neighborhood meeting 2 weeks ago.
But he still has some reservations.
MILTON JACKSON "I'm concerned and the organization is concerned about the ground water contaminants as well...because we do have all the chemicals that's running from Vesicol all the way through, because the ground is saturated with it."
The EPA grant should help with some of that cleanup as the project continues.
Dan Thornton expects LKQ Salvage to be up and running in about 6 months.
The entire project includes about 85 acres.
Cleaning up the brownfield and creating the green spaces will be going on all year.
