Efforts to decontaminate and redevelop the Union Bleachery property north of Greenville are progressing.
Classified as a Superfund site, parts of the 240-acre property at 3335 Old Buncombe Road contain hazardous material contamination from the site’s previous textile mill operations. High levels of chromium, a toxic chemical, have been found in the property’s soil and groundwater along with asbestos, arsenic and more.
The property is also known as the US Finishing/Cone Mills site. The Superfund designation allows the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) to direct or authorize cleanup efforts of contaminated sites.
Cone Mills Acquisition Group in partnership with 13th Floor Investments, Warhaft Group and Atlas Capital Group plans to transform the site into a mixed-use development called “On the Trail GVL.” The more than $2 billion project will include multi-family housing, retail, office, hotel, educational and research campus space.
A substantial portion of the 240-acre site has been cleared by the EPA for redevelopment. But some areas, especially those around the mill itself, remain contaminated and restricted.
Read more about the Union Bleachery project
The EPA and the South Carolina Department of Health and Environmental Control (DHEC) have taken steps to clean up and mitigate hazardous materials on the property. An update was provided during a walkthrough of the site on March 12. Brenda Mallory, the chair of the White House Council on Environmental Quality, attended the tour along with representatives from EPA and DHEC.
The EPA recently awarded $10 million to treat the site’s contaminated groundwater through the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law. Mallory said around $1 billion was made available for more than 100 Superfund sites across the country for cleanup projects.
Scott Martin, EPA’s Region 4 remedial project manager, said they will use injections to treat the chromium in the groundwater.
“The groundwater cleanup is expected to start this year,” Martin said. “We will do several rounds of injections to treat the groundwater, and it could take 10 to 15 years to reach the cleanup standards.”
Additional cleanup work to the site’s main facility building will be completed by Cone Mills Acquisition Group LLC on behalf of EPA. Martin said both these efforts will help the site’s redevelopment project to move faster.
Dean Warhaft, principal of Warhaft Group, said they hope to start redevelopment in the fall of 2024. The project will begin by building the first residential community and redeveloping the property’s old filtration building into a distillery and restaurant.
Site history
Union Bleachery was built in 1902 as a small mill specializing in bleaching, dying, and finishing textiles. The factory, later owned by Cone Mills Corp., operated from 1903 until it was destroyed by a fire in 2003.
