As reported by GlobeSt.com, officials of both Honeywell andJersey City last week finally unveiled a planto clean up the chromium-laced site and begin its redevelopment.The tentative agreement had ended a two-year legal battle betweenthe city and the company over responsibility for the cleanup--thesite had been contaminated by the Mutual Chemical, a predecessorcompany to Honeywell. With council approval, the last major hurdleis approval by the New Jersey DEP of the cleanup process.

The deal just approved by the city council calls for Honeywellto serve as the site's master redeveloper, responsible for thecleanup and for selling the land, likely to multiple developers.The city owns 41 of the 100 acres, and would garner that share ofthe land sales revenue, with estimates of that share ranging ashigh as $150 million. Honeywell will make upfront payments to thecity totaling $25 million over the next two years, which would becredited toward the city's share of the land sales.

The master plan outlined by the city and Honeywell calls forupwards of 8,000 residential units, including an affordable housingcomponent, along with at least a million sf of commercial space.Some 20 acres would be left as open space, and existing city publicworks facilities on the site would be relocated or rebuilt, withHoneywell agreeing to pay $13 million toward any relocations. Alsopart of the plan are a riverfront walkway and a new light railstation.