Top dollar for tainted land?
By Nancy Sarnoff
Houston Chronicle, 2005
An abandoned toxic waste site that sits in the heart of a forgotten neighborhood two miles east of downtown could soon become the target of a bidding war by developers.
The sales price could top $8 million for a 36-acre Superfund site, reflecting how this Fifth Ward neighborhood is changing.
Despite the site's tainted past, its close-in location and size have already attracted multiple prospective buyers.
The site, at 3617 Baer, has been abandoned since the early 1990s.
And whoever leaves the auction with the deed to the contaminated property will also inherit a liability: the cleanup. The projected cost for remediation is about $6.6 million, which will be included in the sales price.
Officials said the sale will likely mark the first time a Superfund site in this region of the Environmental Protection Agency