Thursday, January 8, 2004

By JERRY BARCA
HERALD NEWS

PATERSON - While the proposed Home Depot site looks like an abandoned dirt field, progress has been made to bring the big box store to the Silk City.

The state Department of Environmental Protection is reviewing tests from the site, formerly a dye factory. Gordon LaForge, who owns the land, is waiting for DEP clearance before he can sell it to The Home Depot.

Last summer, development stalled when LaForge, of Dynasty Building Corp. in Paramus, and the DEP squabbled over how the owner would pay for further environmental testing.

To complete the testing, LaForge secured private funding and a $425,000 loan from the state Economic Development Authority. The DEP received completed ground water test results in mid-December and expects to complete its review of the tests during the first week in February, said spokesman Fred Mumford.

The DEP's review could call for more testing, more cleanup or allow LaForge to move forward. An approval would call for continued ground water monitoring and enable LaForge to complete the property sale to the home-improvement chain.

If the DEP gives LaForge approval, he said it would take two weeks for The Home Depot to take possession of the 8.7-acre lot between Route 20 and East 27th Street.

"That would be great. We're waiting for that thumbs-up," said Home Depot spokesman John Semley.

Pending the DEP's review, Semley declined to estimate a timetable for construction of the Paterson store. But it usually takes between eight and 11 months to build and open a Home Depot, he said.

The Home Depot has remained committed to the Paterson project since it came on the drawing board in 2000. "It's such a great site," Semley said.

If it opens, The Home Depot would create 200 jobs in the city. The store is expected to generate $1.5 million in sales tax returned to the city under the Urban Enterprise Zone program.

So far, the cleanup effort at the former Lyons Piece Dye Works site has cost $3.6 million, LaForge said.

In 2001, the City Council, under the Martin G. Barnes administration, gave LaForge $1 million in Urban Enterprise Zone funds after he exhausted his own money for the cleanup.

Since he bought the tract in 1989, LaForge always planned to sell the property to a major retailer.

LaForge is confident the 4-year-old project will proceed quickly. "I believe the DEP will look favorably on our findings," he said.

Reach Jerry Barca at (973) 569-7153 or barca@northjersey.com.