New York City's sanitation department unveiled a sprawling new $230 million facility on one end of Staten Island on Tuesday, which will enable the city to build hundreds of new apartments on the other end of the borough.
The new Fresh Kills sanitation complex was first devised 12 years ago as a replacement for the city’s Jersey Street Garage on Staten Island’s North Shore. The 68-year-old structure is set to be razed and replaced with 232 new apartments and a new grocery store.
The new 140,000-square-foot sanitation building is housed among other trash facilities at Fresh Kills, which was once the city’s biggest garbage dump. It was closed in 2001 after operating for over 50 years, but was briefly reopened after 9/11 so investigators could sort through the rubble to identify human remains.
The old Jersey Street sanitation garage will be the site for hundreds of new apartments.
The facility includes a new salt shed, rooftop solar systems and a new fueling station for sanitation vehicles. Mayor Zohran Mamdani said its opening will make it easier for crews to keep the streets clean.
“The new Fresh Kills complex will strengthen the services Staten Islanders rely on, from trash collection and street cleaning to snowplowing and salt spreading,” the mayor wrote in a statement. “And by moving these operations, we’re making way for hundreds of new affordable homes, public space and a grocery store.”
Bryan Mendoza, who grew up near the Jersey Street Garage, said he’d become accustomed to the sights — and smells — on the block, but noted the new housing would be a welcome change.
“ It does smell. Really, it does,” he said. “It’s sad to go, but it's also a good thing.”
