Environmental Work Starts for Major Binghamton Apartment Complex

Soil borings are being taken at the site of a proposed $40 million housing project in Binghamton.

Crews are working on the property on Clinton Street just east of Jarvis Street in the city's First Ward.

Watch: WNBF News video of work at the site at the end of this article.

The Metro Group of Long Island announced plans for the project in September 2023. The development would include at least 102 apartments but it could be expanded to include as many as 288 units.

A copy of a Remedial Investigation Work Plan at the Clinton Street site on April 2, 2026. (Photo: Bob Joseph/WNBF News)

The project outlined to the city planning commission called for the construction of two five-story buildings.

Much of the site for the proposed project had been occupied by a 196,000-square-foot building that was used by Vail Ballou Press for decades.

The massive structure was filled plastic and other recyclables when it was destroyed by an arson fire in September 1997.

A DMV office - which had been located in a former M&T Bank building on part of the site - closed in 2014.

FLASHBACK: A closed Broome County DMV office building at 181 Clinton Street in April 2014. (Photo: Bob Joseph/WNBF News)

Workers are at the project site to start a brownfield remedial investigation. They are taking surface samples which will be analyzed to determined what cleanup work may be required before construction can begin for the apartment complex.

The Metro Group is planning to call the residential development - which also will include some commercial space - Vanguard Village.

Employees of a Long Island drilling company took soil samples to a covered work area at the Clinton Street project site on April 2, 2026. (Photo: Bob Joseph/WNBF News)

When the project was announced, company president Robert Muchnick said groundbreaking was expect to occur in 2025. Muchnick could not be reached for comment Friday to discuss the status of the proposed development.

If the project moves forward, The Metro Group plans to develop it in phases. Construction of the second building would depend on the successful completion of the first phase.

WNBF NEWS VIDEO: Soil boring operations at a project site in Binghamton's First Ward on April 2, 2026.

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Contact WNBF News reporter Bob Joseph: bob@wnbf.com or call (607) 545-2250. For breaking news and updates on developing stories, follow @BinghamtonNow on Twitter.