An old ink factory that has for years been an environmental nuisance and eyesore for one West Side community is finally being torn down, to the relief of residents near the factory.
For nearly 40 years, residents living near the Dye Specialties Inc. plant at 407 Ege Ave. had to contend with strange odors, purple-colored dust, and other factory-related issues that, they said, affected their quality of life.
But relief is finally in sight. On Wednesday, a demolition crew took a front-end loader to the Dye Specialties plant and will continue to tear down what many consider to be a blight on the neighborhood.
“Getting rid of this factory, this eyesore, will be a significant improvement for this neighborhood, which has had to live with this abandoned facility for many years now,” said Mayor Jerramiah Healy Wednesday.
A spokesman for the property’s new owner said Thursday that demolition should be completed within a week.
Notorious site
Situated near the Hudson Mall, the abandoned Dye Specialties plant was among the city’s most notorious abandoned properties, according to city officials.
“When the factory was still in operation there would be these strange odors up and down the street. But at least the building didn’t look all that bad, ’cause they kept it up…After the factory closed [in 2003], well, you can see what it turned into,” said local resident Bill Johnston, pointing to the factory’s broken windows and the trash and debris that surrounded the plant.
Purple dust still emanated from the factory and would settle on nearby properties.
____________
Still, three months after the plant closed in June 2003, the Jersey City Fire Department found more than 200 sealed barrels of potentially hazardous chemicals. News accounts at the time noted that some barrels contained phosphorous oxychloride and trace levels of liquid phosgene, an ingredient used in mustard gas.
The barrels were removed and the New Jersey Department of Environmental Protection (EPA) mandated a cleanup of the property, which became an EPA Superfund site. (Abandoned Superfund sites are typically cleaned up with a combination of public funding sources, according to a spokesman for the EPA.)
But the plant – and the periodic purple dust – remained.
The city took over the factory after property taxes allegedly went unpaid for years. A new owner, Picon Partners Redevelopment, recently acquired the property from the city and has decided to have the old plant demolished.
A spokesman for Picon said the company has yet to determine what it will do with the property.
Residents rejoice
Residents interviewed on Wednesday said the factory will not be missed when it’s gone.
“Good riddance,” said Grover Stovall, a resident who has lived in the area for about 22 years. “The plant closed up. Nobody works there. That thing has just been sitting there. Nobody’s been doing anything with it. And it’s just been there all these years.”
He likened the demolition of the factory to “an early Christmas present.”
Stovall’s niece Dee Dee Rouse, who also lives in the community, said, “It affects how the community looks, you know? No matter how nice you keep up your home, having that dye plant there makes your property look worse.”
Rouse added that some prospective homebuyers lost interest in local homes for sale after seeing how close the properties were to the dye plant.
“I own the house I’m in ’cause I inherited it from my mother. But if I had a choice, I wouldn’t live here either,” she said. “In other parts of the city, they got old factories that were turned into condos. But this building is in such bad shape, tearing it down is about the only thing they can do, probably.”
A few blocks away, other residents were glad that distance spares them from seeing the factory on a daily basis.
“I know it’s over there,” said D’Lisa Smothers. “I’m lucky I don’t have to see it everyday. But I always wonder if the [EPA] cleanup was enough.”
A Picon said that once demolition has been completed, the factory site will likely be fenced off until the new owners decide what to do with the property.
E-mail E. Assata Wright at awright@hudsonreporter.com.