The Brownfield Market in Five Years: How Different?

The brownfield market has matured markedly — so much so it could be posed that the low-hanging fruit of brownfield sites has been harvested and the remaining sites are going to be more difficult to harvest.

In some ways, the environmental marketplace can be viewed as having become commoditized — competition is fierce; deals, generally, require a higher level of sophistication; and clients, for the most part, are fairly well educated.

Along with the federal initiatives, more states are creating their own incentive programs to spur redevelopment. Many brownfield programs, regulators and communities have amassed some history with environmental degradation or redevelopment. A fair amount of historical information is available to help us see positives, negatives and trends of this sector. 

I would liken our current state to a wave approaching the shoreline. The cycle of waves starts a distance off shore. As it approaches the shoreline, the change in the sea floor compresses the water column, causing the wave to build. As the wave moves to shore, the wave builds and the velocity increases. It crests, falls and washes in.

I propose that the state of the brownfield market in the United States is like a wave that is about to crest. The trick for us as professionals is to see through the trough of this wave and look to the next building wave.

Two concepts that I have embraced and continue to advance are:

• Mainstreaming environmental “stigma” costs into a property appraisal.
• Shortening the cycle time of site study with a focus more on results-orientated remediation.

I propose these two items are more closely linked than people may think.   Discussing the site study idea first, one can see that a plethora of information exists on the contaminated media, subsurface profiles, migration patterns and a myriad of other variables that must be considered prior to remediation.

In addition to this historic information, we as professionals have technologically advanced equipment, software and other advances to assist with site characterization. As part of the site characterization exercise, we gather a lot of empirical data and apply educated judgment to develop a “portrait” of the impacted environment. I believe this information is also very useful to the real estate professional when developing an appraisal. 

How the information is to be used is up to the people most connected to the deal, but as we build consensus for our projects, let’s look inward towards our “collective” team. What will your vision or contribution to the brownfield wave be five years from now? BFN

Interested in putting a brown paper bag over your head and being our next unknown complainer? Let’s face it, we know you have issues. Send your missive (400-650 words) to rachels@brownfieldnews.com. We will choose the best article for each issue and publish the rest of your diatribes at www.brownfieldnews.com.