The federal government has provided $2 million, Lauretti said, to clean up the property, once home to a 145-year-old structure but now sequestered from the area by a fence restricting access to the gutted, contaminated site. The fire destroyed the six-story vacant brick building on the banks of the Housatonic River in a blaze that burned for hours with asbestos billowing from the site and falling, like snow, along the immediate area. The property was known to contain lead, PCBs and asbestos. Lauretti said new construction on both sides of the railroad tracks over the years has resulted in more tax money coming to the city. The Star Pin site would be another property turned from eyesore to asset. The Board of Aldermen approved the sale in March 2020. Lauretti stated that the fire has forced the city to start the process from scratch and while he expects Guedes to remain the buyer, the purchase price and development plans will be different. Star Pin manufactured pins, hair pins and hooks and eyes for clothing. Its peak came during the 1920s, when 400 employees toiled there. By the early 1950s, the company also produced folding paper boxes and numbered 140 employees.
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