"Rather than fill up a landfill we plan to reuse everything we can," he said.

What's left

In what is now a field, developers shake their heads over a 400-ton blob of steel that looks like a giant black aspirin. The molten steel was left in a furnace when the factory shut down. Demolitionists simply cut the furnace away from the hardened metal.

Despite the rising prices for steel, the lump is just too heavy to move, Astill said.

A second glob was broken in half after months of work, but both halves were still too monstrous.

Looks like they'll be building roads around them, Astill joked. They can be landmarks to the once great Geneva Steel.

Along with building removal, the steel plant also left an ecological mark that Anderson Geneva LLC. is working hard to remediate.

"Probably 15 percent of the site has contaminated areas," Astill said. "Instead of being a great big site with a mess on it, it's in patches."

Of the 1,700 acres, nearly 900 are already cleaned up and remediated to appropriate state levels, Astill said. There were only three areas where hazardous waste had to be removed by a hazardous materials team, Astill said.

"They're moving along pretty good," said Allan Moore, environmental project manager for Utah's Hazardous Waste Management Section, and the manager working with the Geneva site. "They've got the north end, which used to be the old Geneva pipe mill area, north of 1600 North, pretty much completed."

Anderson Geneva LLC. has already divided the north area, zoned commercial or light industrial, into lots and sold and leased most of them. Some areas toward the north end may stay industrial or even heavy industrial if it's too difficult to remove impediments or clean up, Astill said.

The area south of 400 North is also fairly close to being cleaned up to residential levels, according to Moore.

"Overall, they're moving right along," he said.

Future of the site

In the next eight to 10 years, the Vineyard site should be completely ready for reuse, Astill said. With the proposed Vineyard Connector roadway coming through the area, the potential for light rail and an intermodal hub, Vineyard officials, transportation officials and developers have big plans.

However, areas like the casting area and rolling mills with the 20-foot-high rebar and concrete mess may not be tackled until someone approaches with a specific plan.