But before any redevelopment occurs on the lot, its legacy of chemical contamination must be addressed. In two interconnected buildings on the property, currently owned by Uniforms For Industry, various companies dry cleaned clothing and uniforms, and cleaned mops, mats and diapers from the 1930s until 2002.
   No fewer than five consulting firms have deemed the site’s soil and groundwater contaminated and in need of remediation. Each expressed concern about possible leaks from the 1.72 acre site’s 10 underground storage tanks, which held fuel oil, mop oil and solvents until their 2003 removal. One study, completed in March 2006, noted the presence of petroleum and chlorinated solvents, usually associated with cleaning and dry cleaning waste.
   Walter Hang, president of Toxics Targeting, a company that tracks contamination throughout the state, described the lot as “one of the most polluted sites in Queens.”
   But Tricia Paria, who lives across the street from the site’s property line, knew of neither the construction proposal nor the contamination. Noting the presence of P.S. 54, a school for students between kindergarten and fifth grade a block away, she shook her head and said: “There’s kids around here. I live here.”
   Hector Suarez, a 127th Street resident for almost 30 years, expressed similar shock. Despite owning a backyard that abuts one of the warehouse’s walls, he knew little of the site’s past or future. He said that his family would be “very, very upset” when they learned of the hazard which they lived so close to.
   Other neighbors heard rumors about the lot’s sale, but had never heard any mention of contamination.
   Edwin Reed, Greater Allen’s chief financial officer and a spokesman for Jamaica Avenue Reclamation, said the company is close to purchasing the Uniforms For Industry site. He insisted that no evidence exists suggesting neighbors are in harm’s way: “At this point in time, none of the reports that we have seen say this is an environmental threat to the community.”
   Jamaica Avenue Reclamation applied last November to participate in the Department of Environmental Conservation’s Brownfield Cleanup Program. The program provides grants and tax credits to developers who clean up and reuse contaminated sites. Upon completion of cleanups, applicants are also eligible for waivers that limit their legal liability.
   Though state officials will not begin deciding whether to accept Jamaica Avenue Reclamation’s application until March 2, when a period of public review closes, they are less eager than Reed to declare the community unharmed. Maureen Wren, a Department of Environmental Conservation spokeswoman, said that some of the neighbors could have suffered from vapor intrusion, the process by which chemicals seep into the air of basements and foundations.
   William Nieter, the director of St. John’s University’s Environmental Studies Program, called the site’s levels of groundwater and soil contamination “excessive” and echoed Wren’s concerns about pollutant inhalation.
   According to Hang, vapor inhalation could result in headaches, nausea or irritation of breathing passageways. Cancer and long term neurological effects could result in extreme cases. While no exact formula exists to determine the effects on an individual, Suarez is worried that his two now grown children — who both slept in his home’s basement bedrooms as boys — may have been adversely affected.
   Adwilda Lopez, a waitress at Karina’s Restaurant, located across the street from the site, noted that basement refrigerators and freezers hold the restaurant’s perishable food. Lopez said that neither she, nor the restaurant’s owner knew of the contamination. She did, however, describe seeing workers drilling in and around the abandoned lot within the last year.
   Nieter noted that the presence of a gas station, located on the southeast portion of the site in the 1960s, likely contributed to petroleum traces found in soil and groundwater samples.
   The contamination from the Uniforms For Industry site may pose additional threats. Roughly a half mile west, near the intersection of 118th Street and Hillside Avenue, is a water well from which residents drew drinking water as recently as 2005. Hang said that contaminants could have traveled as far as a quarter mile from the property.
   To address the source of such contamination, cleanup crews would likely either use suction pumps and send gas extractors down wells, or remove earth down to the depths of the lowest contamination.
   Though Jamaica Avenue Reclamation is prepared to take the necessary remedial steps, Reed said that none of the site’s previous owners should be held accountable for the contamination. Scientifically, “we just knew less 30 years ago than we do now,” he said.
   Reed added that thus far, the community groups and leaders Jamaica Avenue Reclamation contacted were pleased by their interest in the area’s environmental integrity and commitment to developing low income housing.
   But Mary Ann Carey, Community Board 9’s district manager, was unsure of what the community’s response would be to the project. She pointed to a low income housing development near the corner of Jamaica Avenue and 125th Street that initially met with apprehension before its units became much sought after.
   Reed said that if Jamaica Avenue Reclamation receives the support of the Department of Environmental Conservation and the Richmond Hill community, ground could be broken by 2008.
   A copy of Jamaica Avenue Reclamation’s Brownfield Cleanup Application is available at the Queens Library’s Richmond Hill branch at 118 14 Hillside Ave.