New London — U.S. Rep. Joe Courtney, D-2nd District, this week announced New London will receive $615,000 to help with cleanup of a contaminated parcel of land at 43 Hempstead St.

The funding is one of three infrastructure grant awards totaling nearly $2 million from the Environmental Protection Agency’s Brownfield Cleanup and Assessment Grants program. The investment was made possible by the new infrastructure law, the Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act. Other sites awarded funding are located in Stafford and Vernon.

The city, thanks to a $75,000 donation from Lawrence + Memorial Hospital, purchased the vacant 43 Hempstead St. property in 2020 from Shiloh Development Corporation in order to create a public park or green space in the densely populated neighborhood. The parcel has been considered blighted for more than two decades.

The 0.6-acre parcel is a former industrial site and vacant because of a lack of funds needed for the cleanup. Shiloh Baptist Church had demolished a building at the site. The city shifted ownership of the land to the Renaissance City Development Association in 2021 in order to qualify for federal grants.