Cook School deal ‘on life support’ after asbestos found
TRENTON >> When city officials gathered outside the Cook School at a news conference in April, at-large councilman Jerell Blakeley turned to rapper Ice Cube to celebrate what officials called a “transformative” redevelopment deal that symbolized “progress” for the capital city.
“To quote the great American philosopher Ice Cube, ‘Today was a good day,’” Blakeley said, as rain poured down from the overcast skies.
Usually a sign of good luck on wedding days, this one officially marking the marriage between Trenton and KCG Development, the redevelopment project would have turned the long-abandoned schoolhouse into 29 mixed-income lofts. But six months later, Cube’s famous words must be recast — today was not a good day.
The redevelopment company discovered widespread asbestos during an environmental analysis of the historic red-brick building with busted-out windows on the first block of Culyer Avenue in the city’s Wilbur section, The Trentonian has learned.
The Cook School deal, touted as an early milestone in Mayor Reed Gusciora’s first year in office, was unanimously approved by council in April. It’s now on the verge of collapse, the mayor confirmed Saturday in interview at the capital city’s Pride Fest.
“It’s on life support,” he said. “First of all, the price was negotiated from $75,000 to $124,000. They purchased the building. They entered a contract, but they did an environmental assessment, unlike just a regular inspection. The environmental assessment inspection came back with asbestos. So, when you traditionally give away a building for a dollar, that $124,000 could be used for asbestos remediation. At the end of the day, they look at their bottom line of how much it’s going to cost to do the environmental remediation, do the renovation, and market the place, and they felt it’s too risky at this moment.”
The mayor admitted the news is a major setback for his administration and the city, as the Cook School sat unoccupied for decades, serving as a shooting gallery and temporary respite for drug addicts and weary vagabonds.
The crumbling deal could cost the city millions in the long haul, the mayor said, since the city would need to decide whether to knock the building down, and if so, it would be responsible for the costs to raze and remediate the site unless it can convince another redeveloper to take on the potential money pit.
If the Cook School dies, it becomes the second redevelopment deal to go down in flames in Gusciora’s first term.
Council nixed a $4 million proposal from Hamilton-based fiber-optics manufacturer Princetel, which planned to purchase and revamp a crumbling stretch of the capital city’s famous Roebling property. The legislative body killed the deal, fearing it wasn’t by the book.
Officials at KCG didn’t immediately respond to a message seeking comment Saturday.
KCG, which specializes in refurbishing old buildings into apartments and has completed similar projects in cities around the U.S., performed an initial inspection on the historic schoolhouse, built in 1910, but waited months before doing an environmental study.
The “preliminary” results of that analysis came back about three weeks ago, Gusciora said, and it wasn’t good with asbestos appearing spread out throughout the Cook School, in the walls and the “pipes.”
The mayor said he was “recently” made aware of the findings and hadn’t shared them yet with council members.
“Even my conversation with you is premature,” the mayor said.
The mayor hoped to salvage the redevelopment deal by pleading with council to give the Indianapolis-based redeveloper a “credit.”
That would mean, in effect, the city would essentially gift the building to KCG, which agreed to purchase the property for $124,000, up from an initial offer of $75,000, the mayor said. It was unclear if the company put down an initial deposit or had paid for the property in full, necessitating reimbursement.
With KCG likely backing out of the deal, the mayor admitted the city could get stuck with a $2 million cleanup, representing the costs to bulldoze the historic schoolhouse.
It could cost at least another $200,000 to properly remediate the site, before trying to entice another redeveloper to get the property back on Trenton’s tax roll, the mayor said.
“They’re finding out the extent of this,” Gusciora said. “It’s still in the realm of possibility, but they made it clear if it’s not profitable they are going to walk away.”
A naturally occurring material made of fibers, asbestos is undetectable to the human eye and must be examined closely under a microscope. Asbestos is dangerous when inhaled or consumed and causes asbestosis, pleural disease, mesothelioma, lung cancer and other types of cancer, according to the Center for Disease Control.
The presence of asbestos has decreased throughout the country since the U.S. banned most uses of it in the 1970s. But it is still commonly found in older commercial and residential buildings, products and materials, such as insulation.
Asbestos can be abated and remediated but’s it’s a costly endeavor, the mayor said.
“This is an expense that they didn’t factor in,” Gusciora said. “At the end of the day, they want to make money. And if it’s not going to be profitable for them, they’re just going to walk away from the project.”
Asked why the city and redeveloper didn’t conduct an environmental study before the sale, the mayor claimed the deal came together fast.
“Everything is done very quickly,” he said.
The mayor will now have to woo the Gov. Phil Murphy administration to get money for the cleanup with the deal seemingly falling apart.
“Now what the city is go
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