Late in December, the New York State Department Of Environmental Conservation sent around a letter to local residents announcing that action would begin on January 11th, that would address the contamination at the Gowanus Whole Foods Market site along 3rd Street.
January came and went.
If there was any cleaning action going on, it was not apparent. Until this week.
On Tuesday morning, I happened to walk by and saw a crew weed-whacking, chipping branches and clearing the lot.
This is not exactly the environmental clean-up that was announced by the N.Y. City Environmental Conservancy, but, hey, its a start.
The approximately 2.15 acre site is situated in the Gowanus Canal area, one of the most toxic places in the city. Over a century, it has been contaminated with a plethora of industrial waste from a former coal yard and petroleum oil company and freight company.
Under the Brownfield Clean-Up Program, Whole Foods "will receive tax credits to offset the cost of performing cleanup activities and for redevelopment of the Site."
The Whole Foods project has seen little action since 2006, when the national organic food purveyor announced that it was planning to build an approximately 77,000 square foot footprint commercial building housing a supermarket, along with a total of 414 parking spaces, including a 3 level parking garage.The store was tentatively supposed to open in 2008.
Related reading:
Gowanus Whole Foods Site Clean-Up Action To Begin In Early January 2010
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