Dilapidated service station buildings on the Cresson Ridge site will soon be demolished, enabling the contaminated 13.5-acre site to be redeveloped once five underground storage tanks are removed. Mirror photos by Patrick Waksmunski

CRESSON — Dilapidated service station buildings on the Cresson Ridge site will soon be demolished, enabling the contaminated 13.5-acre site to be redeveloped once five underground storage tanks are removed, said Renee Daly, executive director of the Cambria County Redevelopment Authority.

On Monday, Cresson Township was awarded a $325,000 cleanup grant, funded under the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law, by the Environmental Protection Agency.

The award is part of the Investing in America initiative to expedite the assessment and cleanup of brownfield sites in Pennsylvania, a press release states.

The site is a former service shop located along Admiral Peary Highway between the Cresson Sanatorium and Prison and the Cresson Ridge Diesel Garage machine shop, township and county officials said.

Historically, it has also been used as a barber shop, restaurant, living quarters, motel and an ice cream stand but has not been in operation since the 1990s, officials said.

Daly said four structures and one trailer will be removed from the site over the next four to six weeks during a $45,415 demolition funded through Act 152, which permits counties to collect a $15 fee on mortgages and deeds to demolish blighted structures.

Then, within the next 12 to 14 months, a third-party contractor will be hired to test and remove the underground tanks, she said.

The grant funding will be used to remove hazardous materials from the site, which is contaminated with inorganic contaminants, benzene, ethylbenzene, naphthalene and trimethylbenzene, according to the release.

The EPA funding will also be used to conduct community engagement activities and develop reuse plans for the site.

Daly said Cresson Township owns the property and has been approached several times in the past by developers, but the progress was halted since the tanks are still underground.

“The hope is that once the structures are demolished, the tanks are removed and the property can be developed, then Cresson Township can go out and seek developers for that land,” she said, adding none of the developers have a signed contract for the property.

“There’s nothing finite with what’s going to happen with that property,” Daly said.

Cambria County Commissioner Tom Chernisky said the county has been in the process of trying to redevelop the property since 2019.

“This is huge for Cambria County,” Chernisky said, adding he’s excited to have the property back into taxation in the future. “It shows all levels of government working together and creates a lot of wins.”

Mirror Staff Writer Matt Churella is at 814-946-7520.