PAWTUCKET, R.I. (AP) — The land for a 7,500-seat soccer stadium at the center of $400 million redevelopment project in Rhode Island will require an environmental cleanup first.
The project that could become the biggest redevelopment in Pawtucket history will have to overcome the pollution that has been caused by decades of gas manufacturing nearby, the Providence Journal reported.
The plan to build the soccer stadium in addition to other multi-use facilities was unveiled by city officials on Dec. 2.
The Pawtucket Gas Co. began burning coal to make gas at one of their properties near the Seekonk River in the 1880s. In 1996, investigators found significant quantities of toxic waste in the ground 30 years after the plant was permanently shuttered.
The site has remained fenced off as National Grid and state environmental regulators complete their clean up plan of the 23-acre site, including the 11 acres where the stadium would go.
The soccer stadium concept appears to fit in with the remediation plan National Grid submitted in August, National Grid spokesman Ted Kresse said.
“We think it is possible to get the remediation done on the timeline the developers are hoping for to get their stadium construction started,” Kresse said.
