Gannett Project Power Point
A Brownfield Success Story (added 2/25/05)
The photo on the left, taken from CFJ Park, shows excavation work taking place along the western boundary of the Paracord site, where contamination was found (right photo) along the bed of an abandoned water main.
Some miscellaneous views of construction equipment at work.
Right: PCB capacitor (in enclosed bin) damaged during removal from Mechanical Building electrical room.
Left: DEC project manager, Tom Suozzo, gestures, as Haley & Aldrich field monitor, Dave Nostrant, looks on. Right: Looking north across the Gannett Parcel after the completion of cleanup and site preparation work.
We formally subjected this site to DEC oversight on October 31, 2003, when we submitted an application under the old Voluntary Cleanup Program. This was two months before we purchased the site from MHC and nearly six months before we signed our deal with Gannett. We transitioned to the new Brownfield Cleanup Program by submitting a Letter of Intent on March 29, 2004, and receiving an executed Brownfield Cleanup Agreement on April 30th. Gannett accepted title to the Gannett parcel in August of 2004, based on an interim “comfort letter” from DEC. DEC provided final approval of our Remedial Work Plan on November 1st and we expect to submit our final engineering report to DEC later this month, which should enable us to receive one of the first Certificates of Completion under the new program.
Gannett completed its foundation work last week for the new printing press which will be installed in September. The building is scheduled to be complete in November, with the facility opening for business in the Fall of 2006. Total elapsed time from our inking the deal with Gannett will be approximately 30 months.
Here are a couple of artist’s renderings of what the Gannett building will look like. The new press will occupy the elevated part of the building.
The Gannett project is an example of the win-win potential of the Brownfield Program being realized through the hard work and good will of lots of people. If this kind of track-record can be continued, it should bring smiles to lots of faces—including those of owners, developers, and even regulators…