EnCap Golf Holdings, based in Tampa, FL, is the developer, andthe three-year-old organization has made brownfields-to-golf-linksits development specialty. "We are assuming all cleanup andlandfill capping costs, which will save taxpayers millions ofdollars," according to EnCap president William Gauger. "This willbe the largest brownfields conversion project in New Jersey'shistory."

EnCap plans to build four different golf courses, 72 holes inall with spectacular views of the Manhattan skyline, with at leastone of the four open to the general public. Besides the links,EnCap plans to build a 650-room hotel, conference facilities, amarina and some mixed commercial space. HMDC will lease the land toEnCap for a reported $6.2 million a year for 99 years, and whileGauger won't put a price tag on the project, earlier reportsindicated that the total cost, including remediation of the sites,could run as high as $2.5 billion.

The developer plans to use materials dredged from New Yorkharbor in the Port Authority of NY/NJ's ongoing port deepeningprogram to cap the landfills. A processing plant along the adjacentHackensack River will remove any contaminants, according to Gauger.Most of the landfill sites involved are inactive, although at leastone location is still an active garbage dump.