Cleanup of pollutants slows construction at future Lincoln Yards site
CHICAGO (CBS) – Most of us think about Earth Day once a year. We clean up our surroundings to protect the wildlife.
At the future sit of Lincoln Yards, Earth Day was every day for five long years. Morning Insider Lauren Victory explained the massive environmental undertaking at the big construction in Lincoln Park.
Walking the grounds at Lincoln Yards, it's clear the mega development has a lot more developing to do.
The project began here in 2016. Flags are planted where buildings will eventually be. There's a reason construction is taking so long.
"Well, we exceeded our budget, I'll tell you that," said Matt Menna, managing principal at Startling Bay.
He's talking not just about the money, but the time, set aside for environmental remediation. His company Sterling Bay spent $10 million and five years removing pollutants left behind by an old steel mill.
Victory: "What were some of the things that were found in the soil?"
Menna: "The different contaminants. The main one is lead."
Crews also found 36 underground storage tanks.
"Some are 400 gallons," he said. "Some are 10,000 gallons, so the sizes mattered and what was in them mattered."
In all, 27,000 tons of soil was sifted through and removed. A few spots underwent a special electro-heating process.
"They stuck steel core rods into the ground and heated up the soil to a boiling point and actually removed and vaporized the contaminants," Menna said.
CBS 2 asked Greg Dunn from the Illinois Environmental Protection Agency why cleaning up former industrial sites, commonly known as brownfields, isn't mandated by state law.
"Because a lot of times, they are abandoned properties," Dunn said. "There's nobody to go after it. A company has gone bankrupt. The owners have fled. We can't find them, and so it just sits there."
Developers repurposing a brownfield often pick up the tab to ensure a property is safe before building.
"The big thing is the liability," Dunn said.
Back at Lincoln Yards, construction forged forward once the old factory site got the all-clear on cleanup. The first building is set to open in a few weeks, hence the plastic on the furniture.
"We're excited about one building but we're more excited to get two or three more cranes in the air and get the momentum going," Menna said.
Speaking of momentum, birds that migrate along the Chicago River were kept in mind when the installation of bird-friendly glass. They already seem to be enjoying their freshly-cleaned hangout spot.
The next step in the project will be installing a road later this year. That may not seem exciting, but it'll literally pave the way to break ground on the Lincoln Yard's entertainment district.