TLDR:
1. Industrial brownfields and federally designated Superfund sites across New Jersey are undergoing extensive environmental remediation and cleanup to remove hazardous industrial waste.
2. Remediated properties have been successfully revitalized into vibrant public waterfront parks, community recreational spaces, and major commercial shopping destinations that boost local economies.
3. Capped landfills and former industrial parcels now host productive large-scale solar energy installations, significantly expanding renewable power generation across the state.
New Jersey is often a late night host’s punchline but the cheap gag overlooks an important point – the state has been an industrial powerhouse that punched above its weight for decades and built the state’s middle class. But being an economic engine has its consequences – New Jersey also has more than its share of polluted brownfields and Superfund sites. Site remediation, the process of removing the environmental hazards so that the property can be used for new construction, is critically important in the most densely populated state, and the 2009 Site Remediation Reform Act (SRRA) helped to address a backlog of sites waiting to be cleaned up. Cleanup and redevelopment have given these properties new roles in the communities around them and addressed environmental hazards left by earlier uses.
These 10 examples include brownfields and federally designated Superfund sites, with a focus on places already in use.
1. Liberty State Park
Photo courtesy of the NJDEP.
Jersey City, Hudson County
Opened / in service: June 14, 1976
Site type: Brownfield / former industrial waterfront
Waterfront paths, picnic areas, open lawns and views of the Manhattan skyline make Liberty State Park one of New Jersey’s most recognizable public spaces. Visitors can explore the historic Central Railroad of New Jersey Terminal, visit the Empty Sky 9/11 Memorial or board ferries to Ellis Island and the Statue of Liberty.
SOURCE: The Jersey Journal, March 1, 1973
The landscape was once a railroad and industrial waterfront that later became an illegal dumping ground. Its conversion to parkland began with the 1976 opening and has continued in phases; the long-closed, contaminated interior remains part of a separate cleanup and restoration effort.
2. The Mills at Jersey Gardens
Google Earth
Elizabeth, Union County
Opened / in service: October 21, 1999
Site type: Brownfield / former landfill
More than 200 stores make The Mills at Jersey Gardens a shopping destination that draws visitors from across the region, with daily NJ Transit bus service from Manhattan’s Port Authority Bus Terminal. The redevelopment created retail jobs and a new source of property-tax revenue, while workforce services at the mall have connected residents with training and employment assistance.
The mall was built on a former landfill, requiring remediation and management of methane generated by buried waste. Public-private coordination turned a property with substantial development challenges into a commercial destination that has operated for more than a quarter-century.
3. Bayonne Golf Club
Bayonne, Hudson County
Opened / in service: June 2006
Site type: Brownfield / former landfill and contaminated fill
An 18-hole, links-style golf course now rises above New York Harbor on a waterfront property once known for dumping and debris. The private club combines recreation with restored shoreline habitat, including wetlands and mudflats that support fish and birds.
The site previously contained a municipal landfill and contaminated fill. Its redevelopment used treated harbor dredging material to reshape and cap the property, followed by clean growing soil and sand; the course opened in June 2006, with its clubhouse following in 2008.
4. Roebling Museum
Photo courtesy of the Roebling Museum.
Florence Township, Burlington County
Opened / in service: June 2009
Site type: Superfund site: Roebling Steel Co.
The former mill gatehouse now welcomes visitors into a museum exploring the industrial growth that helped shape modern New Jersey, along with the environmental consequences it left behind. Exhibits cover steelmaking, wire rope, engineering and the people who built Roebling’s company town. Approximately 7,000 square feet of exhibit space preserve that history, while a riverfront park and trail connections provide additional public uses on redeveloped portions of the property.
Steel-wire and cable manufacturing, along with the storage and disposal of industrial materials and waste, contaminated the larger mill property. EPA incorporated the gatehouse restoration into its cleanup, allowing the museum to open while work on other parts of the Superfund site continued.
5. Sports Illustrated Stadium and Harrison’s waterfront
Google Earth.
Harrison, Hudson County
Harrison, Hudson County
Opened / in service: Stadium opened March 2010; surrounding redevelopment opened in phases
Site type: Brownfield / former industrial and trucking properties
The 25,000-seat Sports Illustrated Stadium, formerly Red Bull Arena, is home to the New York Red Bulls and Gotham FC. The venue helped anchor a broader transformation of Harrison’s industrial waterfront into a neighborhood with homes, shops, restaurants and public waterfront access.
Next door, the 35-acre Riverbend District includes more than 900 completed apartments across Steel Works, Cobalt Lofts and The Wyldes. These residences sit near the Harrison PATH station, connecting new housing and neighborhood businesses with rail service to Newark and New York City; additional development remains underway.
The stadium project included the former Netti Spiegel trucking property, while the surrounding redevelopment replaced factories, warehouses and other industrial buildings. Soil remediation, groundwater investigation and protective engineering measures helped prepare the stadium property for construction; demolition and extensive environmental cleanup also cleared the way for Riverbend’s new uses.
6. Phoenix Park
Photo courtesy of NJ-AWRA.
Camden, Camden County
Opened / in service: June 2, 2015
Site type: Brownfield / former American Minerals property
Phoenix Park gives Camden’s Waterfront South neighborhood 5.3 acres of public green space and access to the Delaware River. Paths, planted areas, wetlands and a living shoreline make the park both a neighborhood destination and working stormwater infrastructure, managing approximately 5 million gallons of runoff annually.
The property previously housed an American Minerals mineral-processing facility, which left contaminated soil behind. Removing contaminated material and replacing hard surfaces with vegetation helped turn the site into a place that reconnects residents with the river while reducing pressure on Camden’s combined sewer system.
7. Berry Lane Park
Google Earth.
Jersey City, Hudson County
Opened / in service: June 25, 2016
Site type: Brownfield / former rail yards and industrial properties
Berry Lane Park turned 17.5 acres in Bergen-Lafayette into space for baseball, soccer, basketball, tennis and everyday neighborhood recreation. A playground, splash pad, paths and hundreds of planted trees brought substantial new public open space to an area previously occupied by industrial properties.
The assembled properties included rail yards, junkyards, auto repair businesses and warehouses, with contamination that included chromium-processing waste. Remediation removed contaminated soils before the park opened, giving land with a long industrial history a new role centered on recreation.
8. Cinnaminson Landfill Solar Farm
Photo courtesy of EPA.
Cinnaminson, Burlington County
Opened / in service: 2019
Site type: Superfund site: Cinnaminson Groundwater Contamination
Rows of solar panels now give a capped landfill a productive role in New Jersey’s electricity supply. PSE&G’s approximately 13-megawatt-DC installation occupies about 25 acres and contains 32,490 panels, using land with limited options for conventional development.
The former landfill operations contaminated soil and groundwater, requiring protective caps and groundwater treatment. The solar array was designed to work with those systems, allowing renewable energy production while environmental monitoring and treatment continue; EPA publicly marked the facility’s operation in August 2019.
9. Thomas Mundy Peterson Park
Photo courtesy of Middlesex County.
Perth Amboy, Middlesex County
Opened / in service: September 25, 2021
Site type: Brownfield / former industrial waterfront properties
Two synthetic-turf athletic fields and a waterfront walkway now bring sports and public access to the Arthur Kill shoreline. The roughly 10-acre park accommodates soccer, football, baseball and softball, with benches and interpretive signs that give visitors room to enjoy and learn about the waterfront.
The project combined former industrial properties where PCBs had contaminated soil and concrete. Cleanup removed contaminated material and debris, making way for a county park named for Perth Amboy resident Thomas Mundy Peterson, the first African American to vote after ratification of the 15th Amendment.
Home News Tribune, July 3, 2021
10. Mount Olive Solar Farm
Photo courtesy of JCP&L
Mount Olive Township, Morris County
Opened / in service: January 2023; construction completed in 2022
Site type: Superfund site: Combe Fill North Landfill
A 25.6-megawatt-DC solar installation now produces electricity on the former Combe Fill North Landfill, with generating capacity described by project partners as sufficient for more than 4,000 homes. The redevelopment also allowed Mount Olive to recover approximately $2.3 million in back taxes, adding a financial benefit to the property’s new energy role.
The landfill accepted household and industrial waste and sewage sludge; improper closure contributed to groundwater contamination. A protective cap and other cleanup measures preceded redevelopment, and the solar project was designed to preserve the cap. After construction finished in 2022, it began delivering electricity to the grid in late January 2023.
Source:
Bayonne Golf Club. (n.d.). About us.
Birdsall Services Group. (n.d.). Red Bull soccer stadium.
Bollwage, J. C. (2025). City of Elizabeth: Brownfield summary. U.S. Conference of Mayors.
BRS, Inc. (2016, June 1). Berry Lane Park Jersey City, NJ.
CEP Renewables. (2023, September 5). Mount Olive landfill-to-solar project receives Top Renewable Energy Plant of the Year Award.
FirstEnergy Corp. (2023, February 15). JCP&L connects solar project in Mount Olive to electric grid [Press release]. PR Newswire.
Jersey City Redevelopment Agency. (n.d.). Berry Lane Park environmental investigation and remediation summary.
Middlesex County. (2021, September 27). Middlesex County celebrates the grand opening of Thomas Mundy Peterson Park, the 19th park in its park system [Press release]. Insider NJ.
New Jersey Department of Environmental Protection. (n.d.-b). Liberty State Park revitalization program.
New Jersey Department of Environmental Protection. (n.d.-c). Phoenix Park supplemental environmental project, Camden, NJ.
New Jersey Department of Environmental Protection. (2010, March 23). DEP playing big role in kick-starting Red Bull soccer stadium, revitalization of Harrison waterfront [Press release].
Simon Property Group. (n.d.). About The Mills at Jersey Gardens.
Sports Illustrated Stadium. (n.d.). About Sports Illustrated Stadium.
U.S. Environmental Protection Agency. (n.d.). Superfund sites in reuse in New Jersey.
U.S. Environmental Protection Agency. (2016, June). Reuse and the benefit to community: Roebling Steel Company Superfund site.
U.S. Environmental Protection Agency. (2019, August 6). EPA celebrates 20 years of Superfund redevelopment in Cinnaminson, New Jersey [Press release].
