ALTON - Ameren Illinois has been in "cleanup" mode in recent months on the old Alton Post Office location at 727 Belle St. in Alton, and Ameren spokesperson Brian Bretsch says the project is moving toward the end.

Belle Street in Alton was closed by the Ameren Illinois cleanup area on Tuesday as large equipment was removed from the worksite. Bretsch confirmed Ameren is in the process of taking the heavy equipment away because the thermal portion of the project is done.

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The thermal portion of the project involved heating up bi-products and vacuuming them out of the ground, Bretsch said.

“Once all of the equipment is removed then we go into the final part of the site restoration,” he added. “There is a concrete pad that is still on the property from the old post office. We have to remove that pad and in some areas, we will have to do shallow digging to remove all the impacted soil. Once that is removed, there will be a final grading of the property.”

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When the final grading is completed, Bretsch said eventually the property in the 700 block of Belle Street will go on the market for a buyer. He said there isn't any speculation at the moment who might purchase the revitalized property or any offers yet to report.

Bretsch said the cleanup work should be completely finished by the end of 2021 and the property should be on market by 2022.

The cleanup of the Belle Street property has taken multiple years and the remediation work started in 2017 after the demolition of the old Alton Post Office. The old Alton Post Office moved from the Belle Street location in mid-2016.

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