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Brownfields Site Redevelopment
Brownfields, environmental assessments, cleanup and stigmatized collateral are all part of the same business dilemma: how to make sustainable redevelopment happen on contaminated properties.
RPS-BER Ltd. knowledge and proven experience combines reconstruction with environmental remedy for local governments or private developers desiring to capitalize on Brownfield programs as part of their redevelopment strategy.
RPS-BER Ltd. provides our redevelopment clients with property-specific solutions at the pace required of business, not environmental regulation. Click HERE to learn more about EPA's Brownfields Program including the Brownfields Law, Brownfields Grants, technical tools and resources as well as information on brownfields projects across the county.
Think like a banker
Now you can give your banker what they need to consider financing the deal. Nothing chills a banker's blood faster than the thought of lending on a contaminated property where the buyer's liability is unlimited and the amount of required remediation is unknown.
To consider extending credit, your banker will want to see: financials that demonstrate how quickly you can make the property produce revenue and how you will cover your loan payments in the interim:
Complete property appraisal, including post-cleanup.
Formal agreement with DEQ outlining the extent of cleanup the buyer must undertake specific terms of the agreement including time frame, and providing a release from the buyer's future liability upon completion of the cleanup; and ... Other liability limitations and protections, which may include cost cap insurance or an assessment of the risks of potential liability claims brought by adjoining landowners.
If you are working with a bank that's willing to consider extending credit on environmentally troubled property, sit down with your banker to examine the financial impact of various cleanup strategies.
In some cases, it makes sense for the buyer to commit capital up front to achieve a high level of cleanup quickly.
In other cases, it might be better to put more resources into developing the site for operations and using annual profits to amortize the longer-term environmental cleanup expenditures.
Your banker can help you determine which approach makes financial sense and structure a loan that will accomplish your objectives.
Putting contaminated property to productive use is good for our local economy. It helps create jobs, generates tax revenue to support public services, enhances surrounding property values and reinforces Portland's environmental policy goals and reputation as one of the country's most livable cities.
We can't afford to just sit on dirty dirt.
Fortunately, there are ways to make these deals pencil out to everyone's satisfaction.
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