The notion of cleaning up and reusing our nation's contaminated properties was a pie in the sky idea when it first emerged in America about six years ago, or so. The redevelopment of brownfields, as they are called, entails taking slightly contaminated properties and finding new productive uses for them.

We all know these properties. They are the old factories, warehouses, gasoline stations and the like which became slightly contaminated, often by companies that have not been around for many years. Or if they are, they are bankrupt.

Six years ago, developers would rather have their wisdom teeth extracted without anesthesia rather than consider buying dirty property. In fact, developers spent a lot of money testing purchase candidates to ensure they were clean.

Often, these 3rd class properties were avoided because often they were located in bad locations (remember location, location, location), and nobody could determine, in advance, how much money it would cost to clean these "challenged properties" up. And if people did buy them, they were afraid that they too would become liable for cleanup costs even though they had nothing to do with why the properties became dirty.

Laws and attitudes have changed in the last six years, and most would agree they have changed for the better. State and federal laws have been changed making it easier (and more cost effective) to clean these contaminated properties. Long gone are the days when every single molecule of dirty dirt always has to be removed.

And if no one is drinking the ground water, often more relaxed cleanup standards apply to that as well. Of course, this depends on what's in the drinking water and what concentration exists.

To date, most success stories have been industrial success stories. Few people have tried to turn dirty sites into places where people actually live.

That is changing now as well.

Recently, a large residential developer in New Jersey constructed a successful condominium project in Union County. The site was once industrial and required site cleanup. No one would have done that five years ago, but it was in fact recently accomplished. This is big news for the home buying public and for people who care about the environment.

Now, there is even bigger news in the form of a project called Summerset at Frick Park in Pittsburgh: a 244 acre residential development with parks, open space and a mixture of single family homes and apartments. That is what it will be. It was a steel manufacturing facility, loaded with literally tons of steel waste (slag) and bisected by a polluted stream.

Housing will range from $90,000 to $300,000 according to published reports. An incredible 57% of the project will be open space, including parks. This is major scale residential brownfields development. In addition to cleaning the stream, according to reports large volumes of the slag will be remediated as well.

Summerset is expected by everyone to establish a brand-new neighborhood in Pittsburgh. While this planned community will retain and attract new families, it will also expand this City's tax base. A real win-win.

Developers should search out quality properties that have environmental challenges for residential projects. Location, location, location still applies. However, if priced correctly, and if environmental insurance policies and government liability reduction programs are considered, these projects can be rewarding for everyone involved.

Published: May 11, 2000

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