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Texaco going, going, gone
(by Karen F. Mrnarevic - September 10, 2008)
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Staff photo by Roy Caratozzolo
The long-abandoned Texaco station at the corner of Kinderkamack Road and Grand Avenue was finally demolished on Monday, Sept. 9.
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Huffing and puffing, the backhoe blew the Texaco down. After years of anticipation, the abandoned Texaco station on the corner of Grand Avenue and Kinderkamack Roadin Montvale was finally demolished. The building, which had lain fallow for over 15 years, was slated for demolition at the end of July. However, an unforeseen asbestos discovery set the project back significantly.
Mayor Roger Fyfe, in a phone interview, commented on the discovery of asbestos at the site. “That annoyed me because I’m not an engineer, but I would have assumed there was asbestos there.” However, Fyfe pointed out that the fault was not that of the property owner. “They got a clean bill of health from another environmental service… [But] when they got the new consultant in there, he said, ‘no, you got asbestos here.’”
The saga of the property goes back over a decade. The station was closed down in the early ’90s and remained abandoned until it was declared in a 2005 study conducted by Borough Planner Richard Preiss to be “an area in need of redevelopment.”
Subsequently, several underground tanks were unearthed at the site, and leakage of gasoline and other petroleum products was suspected, delaying redevelopment.
Now, with the underground tanks and residual petroleum removed, the asbestos situation resolved and the skeleton of the gas station razed, Fyfe said the future looks bright for the site. “It’s a prime piece of real estate,” he said. “When it’s cleaned up the owner will have spent a lot of money,” he said, expressing gratitude that the battle, though long and hard, has finally been won. Fyfe has no doubt the property will be sold and developed soon.
Karen F. Mrnarevic's e-mail address is Mrnarevic@northjersey.com.
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