The owner of The Bradford Mall on East Main Street is in the
final stages of an environmental clean-up effort, which will bring
the property into compliance with state regulations and a step
closer to redevelopment.
Charles Marroney, senior vice president of Centro Watt -ða
commercial real estate developer with bases in Plymouth Meeting and
Santa Monica, Calif., a subsidiary of which owns the mall property
at 1001 E. Main St. -ðtold The Era on Thursday that Centro Watt is
in the final stages of a chemical clean-up effort there.
Marroney said there is still extensive testing the company must
do at the site, adding it would be at least another 18 months
before the process was complete. He called the operation “routine,”
saying similar efforts are being made at many of the company’s
holdings across the country.
Once the clean-up and subsequent testing has been completed,
however, the property will be redeveloped, Marroney said, but will
remain retail property.
A legal advertisement in The Era recently paid for by Penn
Environmental & Remediation Inc., based in Hatfield, gave
public notice that Centro Watt had submitted a “remedial
investigation/risk assessment/cleanup plan report” to the Northwest
regional office of the state Department of Environmental
Protection.
The report apparently details the investigation of a release of
chemical contaminants -ðTCEs and PCEs -ðfrom the Bradford Mall
Cleaners, a dry cleaning business formerly located in the mall. The
report goes on to say the impact from the chemicals is localized to
the mall property and should be as such for the next 30 years.
Fred Tarbell, communications representative at the local DEP
office, said there are environmental issues with TCEs and PCEs in
the soil and groundwater at the mall property – “both caused by a
dry cleaning facility … (and) common chemicals used in that
industry.”
Tarbell went on to say in December of 2001, the DEP and the
property owner at that time discussed environmental clean-up, but
the owner claimed to have insufficient funds to do a clean-up. As a
result, she said, the DEP issued a violation for failure to comply
in May of 2002. Later, she went on, the owner struck a partnership
with its insurance agency, which was going to provide the necessary
funds for the work, and a work plan was submitted to the DEP in
August of 2002.
The property remained up for sale for a number of years and the
process was stalled, Tarbell said, adding interest in the clean-up
on the part of the property owner became apparent to the DEP again
last April.
Marroney said the environmental clean-up has been ongoing for
about five years.
The McKean County Tax Assessment office lists the current owner
of the property as KR Bradford Mall Ltd. Partnership, a subsidiary
of Centro Watt. KR Bradford Mall Ltd. Partnership took ownership of
the property in 1998, county records indicate.
Currently, there are three retail stores -ðBig Lots, Peebles and
The Dollar Tree -ðleasing space at the mall.
