Are reconditioned factory buildings safe (health-wise) to live in?
July 9, 2012 4:13 PM Subscribe
Are there health risks in living in an apartment inside a reconditioned factory building in Hoboken, New Jersey?
We're considering moving to an apartment in the Hoboken area of New Jersey. There are a few nice-seeming options in former factory buildings turned into condos and rentals. (E.g., the Hudson Tea building in the north end of Hoboken.) We've never lived in a refurbished building like that, and call me paranoid and ignorant, but I'm a bit worried about the possible health impact of whatever industrial processes, materials and chemicals may be lingering from those buildings' past uses. Are there concerns, or am I just being ridiculous? If there are concerns, what should we check for, and how?
We're considering moving to an apartment in the Hoboken area of New Jersey. There are a few nice-seeming options in former factory buildings turned into condos and rentals. (E.g., the Hudson Tea building in the north end of Hoboken.) We've never lived in a refurbished building like that, and call me paranoid and ignorant, but I'm a bit worried about the possible health impact of whatever industrial processes, materials and chemicals may be lingering from those buildings' past uses. Are there concerns, or am I just being ridiculous? If there are concerns, what should we check for, and how?
You can ask the realtor what environmental assessments were done on the building, what was found and what mitigation steps were taken. Any old building of significant size is almost guaranteed to have had asbestos and lead paint in it at some point. That isn't a factory thing, just how things were built. But, those same reports should detail anything more substantial that might have been present and how it was addressed as well.
In general conversion of old factories to residences is commonplace and not a reason for particular concern. The new interior finishes likely contribute more to the inside environment than anything left-over from before. If you have children and there are significant site amenities that is the only place I'd be a bit careful. The definitions of "safe" for soil contamination can be quite varied and some environments that are fine for infrequent use by adults may not be good for daily play in the dirt by infants.
posted by meinvt at 6:36 PM on July 9, 2012
In general conversion of old factories to residences is commonplace and not a reason for particular concern. The new interior finishes likely contribute more to the inside environment than anything left-over from before. If you have children and there are significant site amenities that is the only place I'd be a bit careful. The definitions of "safe" for soil contamination can be quite varied and some environments that are fine for infrequent use by adults may not be good for daily play in the dirt by infants.
posted by meinvt at 6:36 PM on July 9, 2012
Every factory or warehouse remodel I've worked on (I'm in the office at a plumbing contractor), the project has relied on "brownfield credits" -basically, all abatement (mold, asbestos, lead, what have you) is completely deductible, right away. This makes abatement cheaper to do in the first place, rather than as you find problems. Consequently, it's *always* done by any developer who doesn't want a bad name.
Most cities require lead and asbestos abatement as a matter of course any time a wall is opened up more than 2 square feet, anyway.
Beyond that assurance, if the building is concrete, they probably blasted it down to the bare structure - walls, ceiling, columns - anyway.
posted by notsnot at 6:45 PM on July 9, 2012
Most cities require lead and asbestos abatement as a matter of course any time a wall is opened up more than 2 square feet, anyway.
Beyond that assurance, if the building is concrete, they probably blasted it down to the bare structure - walls, ceiling, columns - anyway.
posted by notsnot at 6:45 PM on July 9, 2012
Best answer: In the mid-nineties this building in Hoboken had a big mercury issue.
Given Hoboken's manufacturing past, I'm sure there have been other issues with other buildings, just maybe not on that scale? That Tea building development is over ten years old, with no major issues, it seems, so no news is good news there.
One thing that you might also want to look into is the history on the heating and electric bills. I've heard that the insulation can be insufficent in these loft rehabs - resulting in $250-300/month electric bills in the winter and summer...
posted by lilboo at 7:45 PM on July 9, 2012
Given Hoboken's manufacturing past, I'm sure there have been other issues with other buildings, just maybe not on that scale? That Tea building development is over ten years old, with no major issues, it seems, so no news is good news there.
One thing that you might also want to look into is the history on the heating and electric bills. I've heard that the insulation can be insufficent in these loft rehabs - resulting in $250-300/month electric bills in the winter and summer...
posted by lilboo at 7:45 PM on July 9, 2012
Hudson Tea was originally a Lipton Tea factory. Hard to believe that many toxic chemicals were ever in use there.
posted by spilon at 8:15 PM on July 9, 2012
posted by spilon at 8:15 PM on July 9, 2012
Response by poster: Thanks, everyone, for your excellent comments and informative answers! This was very helpful. Thanks especially to pie ninja and lilboo for those pointers to resources and articles.
posted by StrawberryPie at 5:08 PM on July 13, 2012
posted by StrawberryPie at 5:08 PM on July 13, 2012
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Second: EPA and New Jersey Department of Environmental Protection have online databases. The EPA Enviromapper and the NJ DEP Data Miner are two places to start. If you find something interesting on the NJ DEP site, you can file an Open Public Records Request with NJ DEP for more information. (You can also file a FOIA with EPA, of course, but they tend to take forever, and most of the interesting records will probably be with DEP.)
Now, if the factory isn't listed, that doesn't mean nothing's of concern, and if it is listed, it doesn't mean it is of concern. But those are two places to start looking.
posted by pie ninja at 5:01 PM on July 9, 2012