NYS and NYC M/WBE Certified Contractor
When asbestos-containing materials are properly removed and documented, you’re not just clearing a hazard you’re clearing your liability. For landlords and property managers in Getty Square, that documentation is the difference between a clean city inspection and a violation notice. It’s what your insurance carrier wants to see. It’s what protects you when a tenant raises a concern six months from now.
Getty Square’s building stock is almost entirely from the asbestos era the 1940s through the late 1970s and a lot of it has never been assessed. Prewar row houses along South Broadway, postwar apartment buildings closer to the waterfront, converted structures near the Alexander Smith Carpet Mills district these buildings weren’t built with removal in mind. They were built with asbestos baked into the floor tiles, the pipe insulation, the ceiling texture, and the drywall compound. That material doesn’t go away on its own.
The other thing that changes is peace of mind. Once the work is done and the air clearance test comes back clean, you know. You have the paperwork. You can move forward with your renovation, your sale, your tenant turnover without the question hanging over the project.
We hold the NYS Department of Labor Asbestos Handling License, the NYC DEP Asbestos Contractor License, and EPA certification. For Getty Square specifically sitting at the southern edge of Westchester County, right up against the Bronx that dual state and city licensure matters. A lot of contractors are licensed in one jurisdiction but not the other. That gap can void your insurance coverage or put your project out of compliance before work even starts.
Beyond the licenses, every worker on a Green Island Group job holds individual NYS DOL certification. That’s not just the company it’s every person who enters your building. With more than 5,000 completed projects across the metro area, including multi-family residential and commercial work throughout Getty Square and surrounding Yonkers neighborhoods, we’ve seen what’s inside these buildings. We’re not guessing. We’re also M/WBE certified by the NYS Office of General Services a state-issued credential, not a self-designation.
It starts with a free on-site inspection. A Green Island Group representative comes to your property, walks the space, and identifies which materials contain asbestos and which don’t. You get a written estimate before anything else happens. For occupied buildings which describes most of Getty Square’s rental stock this visit also covers the scope of containment and what tenant notification looks like under New York State requirements. You won’t be left to figure that out on your own.
Once the project is approved, we set up negative air pressure containment to isolate the work area completely. This is required under NYS Industrial Code Rule 56, which governs every abatement project in Westchester County. The asbestos-containing materials are removed, sealed, and transported to a licensed disposal facility with a full chain-of-custody waste manifest. Nothing gets skipped, because the documentation trail is what protects you on the back end.
After removal, an independent air clearance test is performed. When it passes, you receive the formal clearance documentation air test results, waste manifests, and a written record of everything removed. That’s your legal record. For a landlord in Getty Square managing an occupied building, or a developer working through the permit process with the City of Yonkers, that paperwork is not optional. It’s the finish line.
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Getty Square’s older buildings rarely contain just one type of asbestos-containing material. A 1950s apartment building on the Nodine Hill side of downtown might have vinyl asbestos floor tiles in every unit, asbestos-wrapped pipes in the basement, acoustic spray texture on the ceilings, and asbestos-containing joint compound in the walls. If you hire a contractor who only handles one or two material types, you end up with multiple contractors, multiple timelines, and gaps in your documentation. We handle all of it asbestos tile removal, popcorn ceiling removal, pipe and duct insulation, boiler wrap, roofing materials, and drywall compound under one project, one contract, one set of clearance documents.
For properties near the waterfront or in buildings with older plumbing systems, water damage events are a specific trigger. Flooding, pipe bursts, and moisture infiltration disturb asbestos-containing materials that were otherwise stable turning a non-issue into an emergency abatement situation. We work directly with insurance carriers, which means if your project is tied to a water damage claim, you’re not stuck in the middle between your contractor and your insurer.
Commercial and adaptive reuse projects in and around Getty Square including the ongoing redevelopment of the Alexander Smith Carpet Mills district require pre-renovation asbestos abatement under EPA NESHAP before any significant renovation work can begin. We have the commercial project experience and regulatory compliance infrastructure to handle that scope. This isn’t a contractor that only does single-room residential jobs.
If your building was constructed before 1980 which covers the vast majority of Getty Square’s housing stock you are required under NYS Industrial Code Rule 56 and federal EPA NESHAP regulations to have an asbestos survey completed before any renovation or demolition work begins. This isn’t a recommendation. It’s a legal requirement, and it applies whether you’re replacing floor tiles in one unit or gutting an entire floor.
The practical reason this matters in Getty Square specifically is that the neighborhood’s prewar and postwar apartment buildings almost universally contain asbestos-containing materials in some form. Vinyl floor tiles, pipe insulation, ceiling texture, and drywall joint compound were all standard in construction from the 1940s through the late 1970s. If a renovation contractor disturbs those materials without a prior survey and abatement, you as the property owner are the one holding the liability. Getting the survey done before work starts isn’t just the legal move. It’s the one that protects your investment.
The cost depends on the type of material, the quantity, and the scope of containment required. A single-room asbestos tile removal in a residential unit typically runs in the range of a few hundred to several thousand dollars. A full building project multiple units, pipe insulation, ceiling texture, and common areas can run significantly higher. The only way to get an accurate number is an on-site assessment, which we provide at no charge.
What’s worth understanding is the cost of not abating. A city violation for disturbing asbestos without proper abatement in Getty Square can carry substantial fines. A tenant complaint that triggers a city inspection can put your rental income at risk. An insurance claim denial because abatement wasn’t properly documented can leave you covering restoration costs out of pocket. The upfront cost of licensed abatement is almost always lower than the downstream cost of skipping it especially in a market like Getty Square where the building stock is old and the regulatory scrutiny on rental properties is real.
In Getty Square’s typical prewar and postwar construction, the most common locations are vinyl floor tiles particularly the 9×9 and 12×12 inch tiles that were standard in apartments built between the 1940s and 1970s along with the adhesive used to install them. Pipe and boiler insulation is another consistent finding, especially in buildings with original or older heating systems. Acoustic spray ceiling texture, commonly called popcorn ceiling, was widely used in residential and commercial construction through the late 1970s. Drywall joint compound used in walls and ceilings from that era frequently contained asbestos as well.
Roofing materials and floor underlayment are also common in this building stock, though they’re often overlooked until a roof replacement or flooring renovation is already underway. The important thing to understand is that intact, undisturbed asbestos-containing materials are generally not an immediate hazard. The risk comes when they’re disturbed by renovation work, water damage, or normal wear and deterioration. That’s when professional assessment and abatement become necessary.
This is one of the most common concerns for landlords managing Getty Square’s rental properties, and it’s a legitimate one. The answer depends on where the asbestos-containing materials are located and what type of abatement is required. In many cases, abatement can be contained to a single unit or a common area using negative air pressure containment that isolates the work area completely while the rest of the building remains occupied. That’s the standard approach under NYS Industrial Code Rule 56.
New York State does have tenant notification requirements for abatement work in occupied residential buildings. Your contractor should walk you through those obligations before the project starts not after. We cover this during the initial inspection, so you know exactly what notices need to go out, what the timeline looks like, and what the containment plan means for the people living in the building. If temporary relocation is genuinely required for a specific unit, that gets discussed upfront so there are no surprises for you or your tenants.
In Getty Square’s older building stock especially properties along or near the waterfront flooding, pipe bursts, and storm-related water infiltration are not uncommon. When water damage reaches floor tiles, pipe insulation, or subfloor materials that contain asbestos, it can convert what was a stable, non-friable material into something that’s actively releasing fibers. At that point, you’re dealing with an emergency abatement situation, not just a water damage restoration project.
The practical implication is that your restoration contractor cannot legally proceed with drying, demolition, or rebuilding until the asbestos-containing materials have been properly abated and cleared. We handle direct billing with insurance carriers, which matters a lot in this scenario you’re already managing a flooded building and potentially displaced tenants. Not having to serve as the go-between for your contractor and your insurer removes one significant burden from a situation that already has plenty of them. The abatement gets documented, the clearance test gets done, and the restoration work can move forward cleanly.
Yes, and commercial and adaptive reuse projects are a significant part of what we handle. The ongoing redevelopment of the Alexander Smith Carpet Mills Historic District the 85-building former industrial complex along the Saw Mill River at the northeastern edge of Getty Square is exactly the kind of project that requires pre-renovation asbestos abatement under EPA NESHAP before any significant renovation work can legally begin. Converting 19th and early 20th century mill buildings to residential lofts, studios, or commercial space almost always means encountering asbestos-containing materials in the original construction fabric.
We have the commercial project capacity, the regulatory compliance documentation, and the multi-jurisdiction licensing to handle projects at that scale. The same applies to institutional buildings, mixed-use properties, and large multi-family residential buildings throughout the Getty Square area. If you’re a developer, property manager, or commercial building owner working through the City of Yonkers permit process, we can provide the abatement documentation your project requires and handle the coordination with the relevant regulatory agencies so that piece of the project doesn’t slow everything else down.
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