Burlington County Times (Willingboro, NJ)
October 15, 2008
By David Maccar
BURLINGTON TOWNSHIP – The cleanup of the 130-acre site of the former Hercules Chemical Plant on Neck Road is complete, clearing the way for construction of a 1,670,000- square-foot warehouse park to begin.
William Lynott, CEO of Viridian Partners LLC, the firm in charge of the three-year cleanup, heralded the project as an example of unusable land being converted into valuable property.
“A couple of milestones were achieved here,” Lynott said during a ceremony at the site yesterday. “…it’s an example of how we integrate the cleanup with the development of these sites. It’s one thing to clean up to a standard. It’s another thing to clean up to an end product and use.”
The site, which was visited by state and township officials yesterday, is expected to generate significant property-tax revenue and, once completed, the warehouse park would bring 600 to
800 new jobs, said Steven Ganch, director of development at Viridian.
Lynott said Viridian’s primary function is to take sites that are underutilized and contaminated and clean them up for reuse.
“We’re not taking farmland and putting it into development,” Lynott said. “We’re taking sites that have been sitting idle for years and years with heavy contamination issues.”
According to the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, the soil at the site was contaminated with organic chemicals, asbestos, nickel and other metals.
Some of the contaminated soil was taken to off-site landfills, but much of it was entombed beneath crushed concrete and processed dredge material at the site, said Matthew Stanton, spokesperson for Viridian.
There are no tenants for the warehouse park, but Ganch said he expects the three buildings – the smallest, 171,000 square feet, and largest, 781,000 square feet – to be finished in 18 to 24 months.
Suzanne Deitrick, DEP chief of dredging and sediment technology, said she was surprised by the progress at the site.
“I have to say, looking around, about a month ago, this site did not look like this,” Deitrick said. “It’s rather amazing what can be accomplished in less than a year.”
Burlington Township Council President Carl M. Schoenborn was also present, along with other township officials.
“We’re quite happy to have this site here in the township,” he said. “We in the township believe in a team effort. A whole team process was involved in getting this site where we have it today.”
The Hercules Chemical Plant opened in 1947 and employed about 320 people during the 1960s. At that time, the plant produced raw material used to make polyester fiber. The plant closed in 1992.
