METUCHEN — Contamination from underground tanks discovered at the Pearl Street parking lot has been removed, according to borough officials.
Nexus Parking — the developer of a sixlevel parking deck that will be part of the Pearl Street Piazza development — found the tanks during excavation of the site in July.
“They discovered some contamination in the soil, and they had to remove … some of the soil from that area,” said Len Roseman, chairman of the Parking Authority, which leased a portion of the tract to Nexus for the parking deck. “It was an extensive amount of tonnage that had to be removed.”
Roseman added that the contamination had been removed and that the builder received approval for the cleanup from a state-certified environmental engineer.
Although he couldn’t provide an exact cost for the cleanup — for which the Parking Authority was responsible — Roseman estimated it at $60,000 to $70,000.
A trucking company inhabited the site about 50 years ago, and the underground tanks held diesel fuel for the vehicles.
The fuel didn’t leak from the tanks themselves, but instead leached into the ground from pipes that ran between them, according to Roseman.
While the amount of soil removed was significant, the issue doesn’t seem to represent a major roadblock for the project.
“The expectation is that within the next 10 days, the construction guys will be pouring the foundation,” Roseman said, adding, “[The cleanup] is not as drawn out a process as it used to be.”
Officials said the timeline for the parking deck’s completion is about 12 to 14 months.
Plans consist of 750 parking spaces to be shared by residents at the site, commuters and visitors to the borough.
As part of the 40-year lease agreement, Nexus will give 30 percent of its net profits from the deck to the Parking Authority. After 29 years, the Parking Authority will receive half the profits. At the end of the lease, the Parking Authority will take ownership of the deck.
The larger portion of the Pearl Street Piazza — a mix of residential rental units and retail, along with an outdoor public plaza — is expected to be to be finished in three years, according to officials.
Woodmont Properties is the developer for the project, for which the builder purchased a 3-acre piece of the Pearl Street lot.
The development’s 273 residential units will consist of 134 one-bedroom, 130 twobedroom and nine three-bedroom units. The project will also include close to 12,000 square feet of retail space.