Roebling Oil Field Update: We Have a Foundation

Not to dwell excessively on the Roebling Oil Field atop which McCarren Park Mews will soon rise, but a stroll past the New Jersey Turnpike-smelling development site revealed that foundations for the building are now being poured. We are not soil cleanup and environmental remediation experts, but it would seem to us that you would finish cleaning before you start on the foundation. Or, maybe not. This could all be standard operating procedure, but it's still gross knowing what would be under your building.

Here is what we do know: Before moving in somewhere or buying a condo, we'd certainly like to know what was beneath the basement. On the other hand, the city's land use strategy includes looking to more and more formerly industrial brownfield sites to handle growth in the future. So, more and more gross land will be sprouting buildings with names like N-Ten and The Greenpointe. How about The Lube and The Octania.