By Ron Zeitlinger | The Jersey Journal
The new owner of a vacant, dilapidated Jersey City property that has been the subject of years of litigation was cited by the state for failing to remediate the contaminated site.
The soil and groundwater at 125 Monitor St., contain arsenic, copper, lead, petroleum hydrocarbons, tetrachloroethene (PCE) and trichloroethene (TCE), the state Department of Environmental Protection said in the complaint filed in Hudson County Superior Court.
“These hazardous substances in the soil threaten human health and the environment in several ways, for example, persons handling the soil can come into contact the hazardous substances and suffer adverse health effects,” the complaint says. “The soils at the property remain contaminated with hazardous substances above the applicable standards.”
The owner of the property, cited in the complaint as 125 Monitor St. LLC, faces a fine of up to $50,000 for every day the cite is not in compliance. The address for the LLC, on Bloomfield Avenue in Clifton, belongs to Manage NJ, what appears to be a real estate management company. Company officials did not return a call for comment.
125 Monitor St. was one of 12 sites across the state whose owners were sued for ignoring remediation orders.
A Tonnelle Avenue property in Jersey City was also cited. Fathi and Alia Hassanein, owners of the 111-113 Tonnelle Ave. property, were cited for the removal of underground storage tanks without necessary permits. The DEP also said the property was back-filled with gasoline-contaminated soil and the owners have not complied with the DEP site investigation/remediation orders.
The 2.2-acre site at 125 Monitor St., which includes a six-story warehouse, was purchased for $5.5 million in March 2019, but the deal was contested in a civil lawsuit. On Aug. 24, Hudson County Superior Court Judge Jeffrey Jablonski approved the sale.
DEP officials say the new owners of the property agreed to an administrative consent order (ACO) on April 29, 2019, to remediate the hazardous substances at the site.
The complaint says the owners complied with some requirements of the ACO, but failed to comply with several of the core requirements, including the establishment of a remediation funding source for the cost of future remediation; and applying for a soil remedial action permit.
The Real Deal website reported in 2007 that Landmark Developers planned 180 loft condominiums in the building. Jersey Digs reported in 2015 that the Jersey City Redevelopment Agency had designated Ironstate Development’s Graffiti 125 LLC as the property’s redeveloper, with plans for 152 units and 139 parking spaces.
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