EPA completes cleanup of Charlestown Mall site in Utica

UTICA, N.Y. — The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) has completed asbestos cleanup work at the Charlestown Mall site, clearing the way for redevelopment. The agency removed nearly 30,000 tons of debris from the site.

Mostly vacant since 2005, the 11-acre site includes properties at 2205 Bleecker St. in Frankfort and 311 Turner St. in Utica. Charlestown Mall of Utica, LLC acquired the site’s three properties in 2007.

“This area is now an opportunity for redevelopment,” EPA Regional Administrator Lisa F. Garcia said in a press release. “This site was a contaminated eyesore, but through the EPA’s Superfund Program, we are turning blight into might, protecting people’s health, and safeguarding the environment.”

Garcia went on to say the EPA will engage over the coming months with local elected officials and regional economic-development leaders to discuss possible future uses for the property.

A fire destroyed the more than 500,000-square-foot former manufacturing and retail facility in August 2020. The EPA boarded up the remaining structures, secured the property in December 2020, and began site cleanup in June 2022. Work included tearing down remaining structures down to their foundations and removing asbestos-laden waste. The EPA also removed polychlorinated biphenyls as well as other toxic, flammable, and corrosive liquids.

Going forward, the EPA’s Superfund Redevelopment Program is available to provide ongoing reuse support services to transform the site.

The program works with local communities to help repurpose cleaned-up sites, providing site owners and prospective buyers with direct support like technical assistance and redevelopment-planning services, tools, and resources to help communities explore reuse choices.