Newark, New Jersey: Plans by city officials to sell property in Newark's East Ward to make way for an 'industrial complex' have been revealed.
Newark's Department of Economic and Housing Development is proposing that the city-owned lot behind 38-60 Blanchard Street, off of Raymond Boulevard, be sold to Parkhurst Street-based 38-60 Blanchard, LLC for the negotiated price of $75,000.
According to a Newark Municipal Council agenda, a complex with a two-story 15,000 square foot warehouse and office space is proposed for the site, in addition to a biogas renewable energy facility with a three-story office building and storage silos. The facility would "produce a relatively clean burning, colorless, and odorless form of energy to be produced from biodegradable food and animal waste", and the project is expected to be completed within two years after the city transfers ownership of the property.
Although currently unutilized, the nearly 150,000 square foot site, located adjacent to railroad tracks and the Essex County Resource Recovery Facility incinerator, used to be home to the Ottilio Landfill. A Rutgers report states that the landfill, operated by V. Ottilio & Sons, closed in 1979, Soils at the site had been "found to be contaminated with volatile and semi-volatile organic, pesticide, metal, and petroleum compounds", according to the New Jersey Department of Environmental Protection, prompting the agency to place a low-permeability geomembrane cap at the site.
The assessed value of the lot is $1,206,500, while the appraised amount is $2,400,000. The agenda states that "the estimated cost to remediate the site is $5.46 million dollars".
The Newark Municipal Council will hear the proposal at City Hall on Tuesday, November 29th at 10:00am.
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