The asbestos existed almost exclusively in the old railroad sheds, and was carefully removed before the sheds were demolished. The majority of the PAHs were located in the soil near six underground diesel storage tanks, all of which were removed and disposed of safely. Of course, the cost of cleaning-up brownfields is just one difficulty in urban development.
Many brownfield sites present additional obstacles that can hinder development.
Another site had been used as an illegal dump for years, but the site's owners refused to allow testing of the site to determine its clean-up costs. A third was publicly owned, so the process to acquire its lease would have taken almost two years.