The Oregon Department of Environmental Quality is overseeing the cleanup of the 13.4-acre United States Postal Service - Processing and Distribution Center, referred to as the USPS site. This is a significant cleanup effort in the center of what is now a commercial area of NW Portland. In the past, this site was integral to transportation in the region – the gas plant manufactured the gas to light the rail cars that carried passengers through Union Station. In the 1960s, the site was repurposed for the USPS, and now it will transform again into a new use for present day Portland. Learn more about the Broadway Corridor project and the future of this site.
Prosper Portland owns the site and is leading its cleanup and redevelopment as part of the Broadway Corridor project. DEQ's role is to ensure that the cleanup and remediation is performed properly and will be protective of human health and the environment.
Cleanup Status
Schedule for work at the USPS site. Image: Prosper Portland.
Why does this site need to be cleaned up?
The Northern Pacific Terminal Company developed the site as a railyard in the early 1880s. Railcar repairing and cleaning was conducted on the west half of the site, while freight depots operated on the east half (see below figure).
The Pintsch Compressing Company operated a plant in the northwest corner of the site that manufactured compressed gas from crude oil for passenger rail car lighting from about 1893 to 1934.
The USPS facility was constructed on the site in the early 1960s and USPS purchased the site from the railroad in 1974. The facility processed all outgoing mail for the state of Oregon.
In 1993 and 1994, five underground storage tanks at the maintenance facility were decommissioned by removal and a heating oil tank was removed from the south side of the property.
There is some remaining petroleum contamination as well as lead and arsenic from the historic operations on the site. In 2012, DEQ determined that there was no risk to public health and the environment if the site remained in its current condition – as a paved industrial facility operated by the USPS.
Now that redevelopment is beginning, DEQ requires that Prosper Portland remove areas of highly contaminated soils known as hot spots, along with the pockets of petroleum-contaminated soils . The site redevelopment will serve as a cap, where coverage of the site will include buildings, pavement and at least two-foot layer of clean soil.
Frequently Asked Questions
Will this project generate a lot of truck traffic?
The demolition of the Processing and Distribution Center will require truck trips. Once the plans for demolition have been finalized, DEQ will update this webpage. However, this work is still a while off.