The Acme site covers more than 100 acres and sits near the Big Marsh and Indian Ridge Marsh city parks on Torrence Avenue. The location was once used to produce the steel-making fuel coke for much of the last century but shut down operations more than two decades ago.
If officially added to the Superfund site, Acme could take a number of years to completely remediate. The Acme site is a relic of Chicago’s steel-making past and is one of hundreds of so-called brownfield former industrial areas that have been contaminated and vacant for years. That project fell through because of issues related to the contamination, said Land Bank Executive Director Jessica Caffrey.
Acme, which is recognizable by its two tall smokestacks, would join two other Chicago Southeast Side cleanup projects that are underway.