News
WILL GOWANUS EVER BE SUPER?
May 4, 2011
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| Could the Superfund program and development co-exist? That’s what Pratt Institute Center for Planning and the Environment chair John Shapiro, Manatt, Phelps partner Ted Wolff, US EPA Superfund division director Walter Mugdan, and Hudson Cos founder Alan Bell debated yesterday at ULI New York’s breakfast program at Clifford Chance’s W 52nd St office. And what better example to use than the Gowanus Canal, one of NYC’s most polluted waterways? The two-mile stretch was dubbed a Superfund site last year after over a century of industrial activity sent pollutants in every direction, particularly from manufactured gas plants. |
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| The surrounding land is more contaminated that the mud at the bottom of Gowanus Canal, but the primary way people are affected by the contamination is from fish. Walter says he asked some people fishing in the canal what they did with their catch—they replied that they eat it (some people are dependent on the free protein) and then on good days sell the extra catch to restaurants. Gowanus roll, anyone? The EPA usually measures contaminants in parts per million, but in the case of the canal’s coal tar (a byproduct from gas processing), he says it’s measured in parts per hundred. Besides coal tar and sewage, the canal and surrounding land is contaminated from PCB, arsenic, mercury, lead, and bacteria. |
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| But dealing with environmental issues is no different from tax or labor issues, says Ted (who joins the panelists for a shot with GZA GeoEnvironmental’s David Winslow, Meridian Development Partners' Howard Weitzman, and Gowanus Canal Community Development Corp’s David Krieger)—you’re just dealing with regulators and environmental lawyers. “Don’t think of it as the bogeyman,” he says. “We’re protecting human health, cleaning up the site, and making sure the polluters pay.” The Superfund process is the best way to clean it up, says Walter, and it may cost upwards of $750M to do so. But over 20 parties have been deemed responsible for the pollution and cleanup, with National Grid being the largest. |
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| There are many large sites in the area with little development, a “real estate windfall,” John says. The value in the area is not because of the canal, but because it’s in the circle of “Brownstone Brooklyn,” with neighboring areas like Park Slope and a naturally occurring art, entertainment, and youth culture. (Even Time Out New Yorkheadlined “Today’s Gowanus is Tomorrow’s TriBeCa.”) Hudson Cos is one developer looking to build: its proposed Gowanus Green(above) includes 774 units of rentals and co-ops (70% affordable), 3.5 acres of open space, 49k SF of retail, and $20M in public infrastructure investment. Is Superfund a bad word, Alan asked? He doubts it would scare residents, but it might frighten lenders. |
