The Wesmar Company Inc (Site) is located at 1401 and 1451 NW 46th, Seattle, WA 98107. The property is located in a commercial/industrial area in the Ballard neighborhood of Seattle. Block at Ballard II, LLC currently owns the property, which was occupied by Wesmar Company, Inc. and Color Tech. Inc. between 1979 and 2007. Wesmar was a chemical product manufacturer and distributor, and Color Tech was a metal coating service. The Pacific Coast Pipe Company operated at this site from 1905 to 1917, and included use and storage of creosote (a wood preservative). The property is now a multi-story mixed-use commercial/retail complex with street level parking and one floor of underground parking lot.
In 2008, Ecology completed a Site Hazard Assessment (SHA) on the Site. The result was a ranking of “5” on a scale of 1 to 5, where “1” represents the highest risk and “5” represents the lowest risk. The SHA ranking estimates the potential threat to human health and the environment relative to other sites in Washington State.
During 2018-2019, the following contaminated materials were removed from the property:
- 41,859 tons of carcinogenic polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbon (cPAH) contaminated soil.
- 2,942 tons of concrete.
- 102 tons of arsenic and cPAH contaminated wood waste debris.
- 3.6 million gallons of groundwater and construction dewatering water.
- One abandoned underground heating storage tank. The tank was decommissioned. No release of heating oil was found.
- All contaminated materials were properly disposed of at permitted disposal facilities.
T
his Site was cleaned up under a Consent Decree between Block at Ballard II, LLC and Ecology. The concentrations of chemicals of concern in soil and groundwater no longer pose a threat to human health and the environment.
Environmental protection is now in place at the Site. Ecology has determined that the cleanup action at the Site meets the state cleanup regulations.
