Deal or No Deal?

While traveling throughout the United States and Canada during the last ten years, we have been on a quest for the perfect solution to the issues surrounding the redevelopment of brownfields. What we have found is that every project is unique and no two sites are the same. Within this variability, we find that there are two brownfield markets demarcated by an economic divide. The divide may be imperceptible and intangible, but it exists and can be found within regions, states and cities.

On the one side of the divide are growing population centers with robust real estate markets. Developers are competing to find land and build big projects, capital is widely available and environmental concerns get worked out because the economics of the deal are favorable. On the other side of the divide you find blight, declining population centers, few employment opportunities, little development interest and little outside capital being invested into the community.

We have found that “the trend is your friend.” When market forces are on your side and all arrows point up, resources can be found to make brownfield redevelopment work within the existing framework of the state voluntary cleanup program (VCP). Government resources are adequate, buyers and sellers can both live with the liability relief offered through state VCPs and service professionals can make the technicalities of cleanup and contractual language work so deals get done. 

But, it is a totally different picture on the other side of the divide. Typically in these areas, the major source of employment is gone, there is little demand for new development, and local government lacks in-house brownfield expertise. There is no budget to contract experts to obtain government grants and attract developer and investor interest to their brownfields. So developers and investors are asking themselves “deal or no deal” when it comes to investing on the other side of the divide.

Cites must recognize what it takes to attract private sector interest. The brownfield riverfront conference in Aurora, Illinois, focused on this issue and looked at how cities located along riverfronts can attract developer and investor interest. The answer is to recognize your strengths — rivers, roads and rails — accentuate the positive and find a champion who can push your project to fruition.  

Recognizing the importance of this point, this issue of Brownfield News is dedicated to the economic divide and showing what can be done to turn around brownfields on both sides of the divide. We thank the mayors and local officials who participated in our roundtable discussion and share their perspective on “getting your piece of the pie.”

This issue’s Point/Counterpoint raises thought-provoking points about what a “disadvantaged” community is and whether brownfield projects really assist those who have endured the environmental and economic blight for so long. And, case studies galore are found showcasing projects from Brooklyn to Tacoma with Milwaukee in between. BFN

Enjoy the read!

Robert Colangelo
Sue Boyle

MORE ON THE ECONOMIC DIVIDE

This issue is dedicated to Raymond M. Boyle, career journalist and editor, who would have been amused to see his daughter’s name on a masthead in an editorial capacity and who would have appreciated this issue’s focus on social, economic and environmental justice.