NEW ROCHELLE, N.Y. (Aug. 28, 2026) — The New York State Department of Environmental Conservation has received a Brownfield Cleanup Program application and draft Remedial Investigation Work Plan for the property at 260 North Avenue, the longtime home of a Citizens Bank branch in downtown New Rochelle.
The application, filed by an entity called 260 N LLC, covers a 0.75-acre parcel at the corner of North Avenue and Huguenot Street, also addressed as 238 Huguenot & Lawton Street. The site is currently owned and operated by Citizens Bank, National Association, according to state records. It is zoned Downtown Mixed Use and Downtown Mixed Use Urban Renewal.
DEC records show the property has a long industrial and commercial history dating to at least 1887, when Sanborn maps identified a carriage factory, livery and stores on the site. Later uses included a laundry, a confectionary, saloons, a grocery store, and a Borden’s Condensed Milk Co. bottling facility beginning in 1911. The current two-story bank building was constructed in 1963.
A Phase II subsurface investigation conducted between January and March of this year found up to 18 feet of fill material — including sand, silt, gravel, asphalt and brick — overlying weathered bedrock, with groundwater encountered between roughly 7.5 and 17 feet below grade. DEC records list the potential sources of contamination as fill materials and former manufacturing uses; specific contaminants of concern have not yet been identified, as the application remains under state review.
The site sits within a designated Disadvantaged Community and a Potential Environmental Justice Area, according to DEC’s mapping data. It is also in proximity to a daycare facility (365 feet) and a medical facility (224 feet).
DEC’s Brownfield Cleanup Program is designed to encourage private-sector cleanup and redevelopment of contaminated properties. Since its inception in 2003, the program has facilitated cleanup of more than 500 sites statewide, with more than 550 currently active.
Application materials are available through the DECinfo Locator and at the document repository at the New Rochelle Public Library, 1 Library Plaza. Questions may be directed to DEC Project Manager Michael Squire at michael.squire@dec.ny.gov or (518) 402-9546.
**Editor’s Note:** Talk of the Sound did not become aware of this announcement until after the public comment period, which closed Aug. 21, 2026. DEC has reopened comment periods in similar cases in the past. If there is significant reader interest in commenting on this application, we will request that the agency do so again. In the meantime, we believed it was more important to document this filing for the public record even though the deadline had passed.
This article was prepared with the assistance of AI tools under the direction and editing of Robert Cox.
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