cleanup · Chautauqua County
Gateway Lofts / Former Chautauqua Hardware
Jamestown
Former woolen mill and hardware-manufacturing complex beside the Chadakoin River where electroplating, die-casting, and metal finishing left metals, PCBs, chlorinated solvents, and vapor concerns. DEC determined that the site posed a significant threat and selected a multi-part remedy.
The documented story
What happened here?
A woolen mill began operating here in 1888. Chautauqua Hardware later manufactured furniture hardware using electroplating, die-casting, polishing, anodizing, and numerous metals and industrial compounds.
DEC manages the property as Brownfield Cleanup Program site C907046; the related off-site record is explained here rather than mapped as a duplicate pin.
A woolen mill became a metal-finishing complex, then a housing cleanup
Gateway Lofts carries Jamestown's textile and hardware eras into one riverfront remedy
14,000 tonsapproximately, soil removal called for by the selected remedy
1888-late 1940s
Textile mills opened the industrial chapter
Jamestown Woolen Spinning and Empire Worsted Mills produced yarn and cloth on the riverfront. Their buildings established the factory complex later adapted for different manufacturing.
By 1963-2005
Hardware production added casting, plating, and chemical finishing
Chautauqua Hardware manufactured furniture hardware using die-casting, electroplating, polishing, anodizing, and numerous metals and industrial compounds.
2022-present
Housing reuse requires an active engineered remedy
The selected remedy includes excavation, PCB-source removal, a reactive groundwater barrier, vapor systems, cover, easement, and monitoring. A separate off-site record continues to evaluate migration beyond the brownfield boundary.
Atlas classification: environmental detection, agency investigation.
PFAS activity, investigation, or detection is documented in the cited site record. That documentation does not by itself establish off-site exposure or a health effect in any individual.
Compounds and evidence
Detected
Medium: groundwater
DEC reported PFDA up to 41 ppt in the remedial-investigation summary.
Evidence limit: PFDA, not generic PFAS alone, is the compound identified as a contaminant of concern. The record does not establish that Chautauqua Hardware was the sole source.
C8 and APFO: PFOA is often called C8. APFO is the ammonium salt of PFOA, but a PFOA environmental result does not identify APFO as the original product or prove where it came from.
Chemical guide
Chemicals named in this record
These links explain potential hazards and exposure pathways. A chemical named in a record does not establish that anyone was exposed or harmed.
Health context
Why PFAS are a long-term concern
PFAS are a large family of manufactured chemicals. Many are highly persistent, and some can remain in the environment or build up in people and animals over time. Persistence can allow releases to move through groundwater, surface water, waste systems, food, and fish long after the original use has ended.
Human studies have found associations between increased exposure to certain PFAS and higher cholesterol, lower antibody response to some vaccines, changes in liver enzymes, pregnancy-induced hypertension and preeclampsia, small decreases in birth weight, and kidney or testicular cancer for PFOA. Evidence differs by compound, and research continues. A site detection does not show that a particular person was exposed or that PFAS caused an illness.
Chronology
Timeline
- 1888–late 1940s
Jamestown Woolen Spinning and Empire Worsted Mills produced yarn and cloth.
- By 1963–2005
Chautauqua Hardware conducted metal casting, plating, finishing, and fabrication.
- 2022
DEC selected excavation, groundwater interception, vapor mitigation, a cover, and long-term controls.
- Remedial construction
Cleanup and redevelopment work began implementing the selected restricted-residential remedy while off-site evaluation remained a separate state record.
Environmental record
Documented impacts
- DEC identified metals, PCBs, PAHs, TCE and breakdown products, PFDA in groundwater, and soil-vapor intrusion concerns.
- Investigation included riverbank soil and the adjacent Chadakoin River; the cleanup boundary should not be treated as a complete off-site plume boundary.
Response
Cleanup and controls
- The remedy calls for roughly 14,000 tons of soil removal, PCB-source excavation, a reactive groundwater barrier, vapor systems, clean cover, and hazardous-building-material management.
- An easement, groundwater restrictions, excavation controls, monitoring, and periodic certification support restricted-residential reuse.
Then and now
The site today
The redevelopment name does not replace the site's documented woolen-mill and metal-manufacturing history or its continuing cleanup obligations.
Restricted-residential reuse depends on the cover, vapor systems, groundwater barrier, easement, and continuing certification remaining effective.