JACKSONVILLE, Fla. — Cleaning up the site commonly known as the Shipyards won't be easy or cheap.
That's because the soil that would be used to build a multi-million dollar entertainment, retail and residential center has a history of contamination.
"It's contaminated because of petroleum products, as well as the bottom paint that was used for the ships. They used to do a lot (of) ship repairs and so a lot of blasting in which they would blast off the old bottom paint which sometimes contained lead," said Dr. Quinton White, executive director of the Marine Science Research Institute at Jacksonville University.
White said all the chemicals have seeped into the soil through the years.
First, he said the city would have to map out where the contaminants are and then figure out what to do with whatever is going on top.
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"If you're just going to build a building on top of it, it becomes less of a problem than if you need to dig into it, but then I don't care what you do down there, you're going to have to put in foundations, so you're going to do some digging regardless," said White.
Iguana Investments Florida LLC, the company Shad Khan created to handle the Shipyards plan, said the city's environmental obligations would not exceed $35 million but if it does, they would have the right to end the deal.
"The disposal and cleaning up of the site will be the biggest thing and deciding exactly what's going to go where will play a role into that," said White.
The city already has $13 million set aside that would go toward the Shipyards. Right now, it isn't clear if cleaning up the site would cost more than that.
The Downtown Investment Authority is set to meet again next week to discuss the Shipyards plan.
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