Greenpoint's Ultra-Toxic NuHart Plastics Factory Will Be Demolished, But Not This Week

Demolition may soon commence at Greenpoint’s maligned NuHart Plastics Superfund site, where the Fire Department shut down a massive rave this past Halloween over safety issues. Though a concerned local wrote to tell Brownstoner that the warehouse — which contains and sits on top of toxic chemicals — would be torn down starting today, the developer assured us that the wrecking ball isn’t in place just yet.

Development project coordinator Monica Mai told Brownstoner that, while demolition had originally been planned for this week, it will “not happen this week. Maybe end of the month. We are still working on the permits.”

For sure, she reassured, demolition will not begin on Wednesday.

The site at 280 Franklin Street — the former Harte & Co. plastics factory — was a cause for preservationists fighting to save the 31,000-square-foot structure and its unique curved 1930s Art Moderne facade.

After several years in contract, the building sold to developer Bo Jin Zhu last year for $23,250,000 and demo permits were filed not long after. However, the seller — Harte & Co. — had allowed underground storage tanks full of toxic chemicals to leak into the soil and groundwater, and the state declared 280 Franklin a Superfund site.

It will take an estimated $10 million to clean up the pollution. Environmental remediation will be part of any demolition, according to permits.

After remediating the site, Zhu’s development team plans to build a 400-unit apartment building with 200 parking spaces, as Brownstoner has reported.

As Greenpoint’s residential development boom swings into high gear, development at 280 Franklin would boost it by adding another 400 units. The site is close to the water and near the planned towers at Greenpoint Landing and 77 Commercial Street.

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