Materials Management Plan
Plan Summary:
The Materials Management Plan (MMP) is the rulebook for safely handling soil and groundwater during construction. It is prepared by a third-party environmental engineering firm and submitted to govern the work on site per IEPA guidelines.
A Note from the Developer:
This site has been an active steel-and-wire industrial property since the late 1930s. We did not create the historical conditions on this parcel — but we are the ones stepping up to invest the resources to clean it up. We have a vested interest in doing this right: a safer, cleaner site is better for our employees, our neighbors, and the long-term value of the investment.
Compared to many infill industrial sites in Chicago and other large metros, this is a relatively clean parcel. Most of the site is in good shape; the issues are localized and well-characterized. Specifically:
Sitewide arsenic averages 7.74 mg/kg — below the regional background level of 13 mg/kg. In other words, average arsenic on this site is lower than typical Chicago-area soil.
A prior cleanup already earned a No Further Remediation (NFR) letter from the IEPA in 1998.
Two underground storage tanks were properly removed in late 2025 under regulatory oversight, with confirmation samples coming back below both City of Chicago background levels and IEPA industrial/commercial cleanup objectives.
The remaining areas of concern are concentrated on six discrete "hot spots," not spread across the property.
What Gets Cleaned Up:
The plan calls for targeted excavation and off-site disposal of impacted soil at six specific locations totaling a small fraction of the 70-acre site. The contaminants — petroleum hydrocarbons, a few PAH compounds, and isolated metals readings — are exactly what you'd expect from 85+ years of legitimate steel and wire manufacturing are being addressed to current IEPA standards.
Protecting neighbors and the community throughout construction
Continuous community air monitoring at the work zone perimeter for dust (PM10) and odors, with hard action thresholds that stop work if levels rise above 150 µg/m³ over background with twice as many air monitoring stations than required by the City of Chicago.
The plan builds standard environmental safeguards combined with enhanced Amazon protocols. The key ones for community members:
Bottom Line
Dust suppression (water, covers, plastic sheeting) on all excavations and stockpiles.
Lined, covered stockpiles for any impacted soil — covered by end of each day.
Truck wash / decontamination pad so vehicles don't track soil off site; all loaded trucks tarped and manifested before leaving.
Licensed haulers and permitted disposal facilities for any soil leaving the site, with full waste manifests.
An on-site Environmental Professional providing oversight and confirmation sampling throughout the work.
A long-vacant industrial property is being cleaned up to meet and exceed modern standards under IEPA oversight, with continuous air monitoring, dust controls, and licensed disposal protecting the surrounding neighborhood throughout construction. The end state is a property in materially better environmental conditions than it has been in decades.