A new land use report is suggesting that reclamation of so-called "brownfield" sites in communities nationwide is becoming both a successful and lucrative way of redeveloping land that has been all but abandoned - successful for communities and lucrative for real estate professionals.

An ECS Land Reuse Report released at a conference in Atlanta indicates that some 47,600 acres -- roughly 74 square miles of land - has been recycled in recent years back into productive use.

According to the ECS survey, mixed-use projects were by far the most common reuse of formerly contaminated land. Of the 240 sites reviewed, 109 sites (45.4 percent) have or will become mixed-use developments consisting of various combinations of office, retail, cultural, recreational, residential, public and/or some type of industrial space.

The breakdown of the other land uses includes:

• 53 sites (22.1 percent) for industrial uses;
• 18 (7.5 percent) for offices;
• 16 (6.7 percent) for cultural or recreational uses;
• 14 (5.8 percent) for retail;
• 11 (4.6 percent) for residential developments;
• 19 (7.9 percent) for other diverse uses, among them two airports, a fire station, a school, a convention center, and a light rail station.

"As communities struggle with curbing sprawl and preserving their green space, the good news is that many are making a lot of progress in reusing land or cleaning it up and returning it to productive use," said Bob Hallenbeck, senior vice president of government affairs for ECS, a provider of environmental insurance.

"Reusing 74 square miles of land is a major step in the right direction. We are seeing just the tip of the iceberg in a movement that can put a significant amount of land back to good use and preserve other land from development."

The Environmental Protection Agency has estimated there are more than 500,000 contaminated brownfield sites nationwide, but most experts believe that estimate is inaccurate because no effective counts have ever been taken.

The report said private developers and those involved in the lease and sale properties are involved in more than 76 percent of renovation projects.

"At least 62 of the sites are positioned along a waterway of some sort, which points to the recognition of the rewards -- both financial and revitalization of communities -- that accompany waterfront redevelopment and seem to justify the cost of cleaning up contamination," the report said.

Funding of cleanup seems to be less of a stumbling block than previously thought, said ECS. Only 10 percent of the time were the actual polluters required to pay for the cleanup. In most cases, cleanup was paid by developers as an acceptable cost for controlling the land.

Local government funding also was rare, the report said, with city and county governments usually regulating cleanup rather than paying for it.

Published: September 12, 2000

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