Yes, Virginia, there will be activity on the Whole Food’s site — but it won’t be the construction of a new store, not yet at least.
The state Department of Environmental Conservation (DEC) announced this week that cleanup of the contaminated site at Third Avenue and Third Street is about to begin, and that the work will be allowed to proceed before a site redevelopment plan is finalized.
The DEC overseen remediation work will include the excavation of contaminated soils, as well as the installation of a soil cover. The state Department of Health will also have oversight on the cleanup.
Remediation is expected to begin Jan. 11, and span three months, after which time the DEC will determine if the cleanup requirements have been met, the agency said in a statement.
Whole Foods spokesperson Michael Sinatra said his company is “fully committed” to the site, but it is unable yet to provide a timetable for the store’s construction. “Right now, the plan is to get through the cleanup of the site,” he continued. “Once that is completed, we will reassess and determine the timetable for the store, if there will be a store.”
During the 1800s through 2004, the site was home to a number of industrial operations, including lumberyards, coal yards, a petroleum oil company, an automobile repair shop, a trucking company, a junkyard and a freight depot.
Whole Foods is paying for an environmental clean-up of the site under the DEC’s Brownfield Cleanup Program, which provides incentives to clean up former industrial properties before their redevelopment.
Whole Foods initially proposed a 77,000 square foot store with 414 parking spaces, including a three-level parking garage, and landscaped shoreline promenade, but said last February that it would be tweaking its plan. Over the summer, the company said it would eventually provide more details of its plans, including the possibility of a development partner.
