The site is located on the western shore of Commencement Bay and consists of 67 acres of property owned by Asarco, Inc. and a 23-acre slag peninsula, home of the Tacoma Yacht Club. The Town of Ruston, the City of Tacoma, and the Metropolitan Park District are the three municipalities that have zoning and permitting jurisdiction at this site. The general area of the former Asarco Smelter consists of steep slopes extending down to Commencement Bay, producing bluffs along portions of the shoreline. Many of the original smelter buildings and structures were constructed on slag fill, which extended the existing shoreline when molten slag from smelting operations was poured into Commencement Bay. A car tunnel and railroad tunnel are located between the stack hill and the arsenic kitchen area.
Some dense vegetation exists on steep slopes and along the bluffs above Commencement Bay.
Its primary surface features are the Tacoma Yacht Club building, a paved access road, and paved parking areas. An estimated 15 million tons of slag exist at the smelter property and slag peninsula. Surface water features on the smelter property include surface water in the cooling pond and south and west stack hill areas and a number of springs and seeps around the stack hill and arsenic kitchen areas. Surface water drains into one of four drain systems and then into outfalls at the site. A complex pattern of groundwater flows through or beneath the smelter property, including through the slag, into Commencement Bay.