{"id":85512,"date":"2026-01-13T13:11:28","date_gmt":"2026-01-13T13:11:28","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/85512\/"},"modified":"2026-01-13T13:11:28","modified_gmt":"2026-01-13T13:11:28","slug":"after-10-years-easton-is-finally-ready-to-hire-scrapyard-cleanup-crew","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/85512\/","title":{"rendered":"After 10 years, Easton is (finally) ready to hire scrapyard cleanup crew"},"content":{"rendered":"

More than 10 years<\/a> after a metal scrapyard closed, the City of Easton is finally ready to clean it up<\/a>.<\/p>\n

The city is soliciting bids for environmental remediation<\/a> at the Easton Iron and Metal site<\/a> at 1111-1113 Bushkill Drive.<\/p>\n

A contractor will need to take extensive soil samples, remove \u201chot spots\u201d of tainted soil and add clean fill, according to the bid specifications<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Then, the city can hand over the 11-acre parcel to VM Development<\/a>. Developer Mark Mulligan\u2019s proposal for The Foundry includes 200 apartments with between 5,000 to 20,000 square feet of commercial space. That\u2019s enough room for around 15 businesses, according to VM Development Group Partner Gretchen Rice.<\/p>\n

The brownfield site has been on the city\u2019s radar<\/a> since the scrapyard closed in January 2015.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s got to be cleaned up,\u201d Easton Mayor Sal Panto Jr. said Friday.<\/p>\n

The cleaned-up development will tie in to the Karl Stirner Arts Trail, provide enhanced protection of the Bushkill Creek watershed and give its residents walking access to amenities at the Simon Silk Mill development, according to Easton Director of Community and Economic Development John Kingsley.<\/p>\n

\u201cThis is one of the largest brownfield sites left in the city and it is currently a blighting influence on the surrounding neighborhood,\u201d Kingsley said. \u201cThis project will allow for the private investment of about $70 million and will singlehandedly change the aesthetic and visibility of this area of the Bushkill corridor.\u201d<\/p>\n

After the scrapyard closed, the owner died in 2016<\/a>. Then, his sons liquidated the business, according to a former scrapyard employee. The city cited the sons in 2018 for failing to maintain the buildings, which were full of broken windows and other hazards. <\/p>\n

\"EastonHere\u2019s what the Easton Iron and Metal building looked like in 2015, before it was torn down.Rudy Miller | For lehighavlleylive.com<\/p>\n

The city withdrew the citations<\/a> after a plan emerged for the Karl Stirner Arts Trail to buy the property<\/a>. When that plan failed, a new plan emerged where the Nurture Nature Center would open a museum<\/a> as part of Mulligan\u2019s development.<\/p>\n

The Nurture Nature Center plan failed<\/a> and Mulligan is now pursuing the development on his own.<\/p>\n

The city redevelopment authority bought the property in 2019 to pursue government grants to clean it up. The authority applied for millions of dollars in aid but was only able to secure $500,000 from the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency.<\/p>\n

The redevelopment authority turned the property over to the<\/a> city in 2023.<\/p>\n

Once the cleanup ends, the city will sell the property<\/a> to the Foundry Development Group, a subsidiary of VM Development. The property sale will allow the city to recoup its $1.5 million purchase price.<\/p>\n

Companies interested in cleaning up the site can find bid specs at pennbid.bonfirehub.com<\/a>.<\/p>\n

There\u2019s an optional pre-bid meeting via Microsoft Teams at 11 a.m. Thursday, Jan. 15. Instructions for calling in will be linked on PennBid. Questions about the bids<\/a> will be accepted online via the PennBid website, until 4 p.m. Jan. 30.<\/p>\n

The deadline to submit bids is 4 p.m. Feb. 12.<\/p>\n

What happened to the scrap sculptures?<\/p>\n

The mounds of scraps at Easton Iron and Metal have all been relocated, including two iconic sculptures. <\/p>\n

A chicken made of metal scraps<\/a> from the junkyard was moved to the Easton Area Neighborhood Center. <\/p>\n

\"EastonPhoto of the Easton chicken sculpture at the former Easton Iron and Metal site in 2017.Rudy Miller | For lehighvalleylive.com<\/p>\n

A statue of Atlas holding up the world was moved to a bike park at Hugh Moore Park.<\/p>\n

\"EastonPhoto of the Atlas sculpture at the former Easton Iron and Metal scrapyard in 2017.Rudy Miller | For lehighvalleylive.com<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"More than 10 years after a metal scrapyard closed, the City of Easton is finally ready to clean…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":85513,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[14],"tags":[153,155,154],"class_list":{"0":"post-85512","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-bethlehem","8":"tag-bethlehem","9":"tag-bethlehem-headlines","10":"tag-bethlehem-news"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/85512","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=85512"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/85512\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/85513"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=85512"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=85512"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=85512"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}