Financing brownfield cleanup and redevelopment.

Lack of adequate and affordable financing is the most significant obstacle to brown field redevelopment. governments can catalyze private investment in these projects by leveraging available federal, state, and local resources.

With as many as 600,000 potential sites nationwide, brownfields continue to be an important issue for local governments of all sizes. Brownfields come in all shapes and sizes, including defunct or partially operating manufacturing plants, abandoned gas stations, dying or dead strip shopping and commercial centers, agricultural operations, and even residential areas. They are found in urban, suburban, and rural locations. The cleanup and reuse of these sites has become the subject of considerable government and political attention, with broad interagency and bipartisan support for such initiatives. More and more, the public and private sectors are forming partnerships to realize the economic and environmental benefits of brownfield redevelopment.

The realm of brownfield finance is rapidly evolving. To solve the brownfield financing puzzle, local leaders and agencies need to make imaginative use of the various public and private financing tools, identifying new funding combinations and approaches that make projects work. This article identifies the financing barriers to brownfield reuse, discusses public-sector approaches for facilitating brownfield redevelopment, and summarizes the litany of available brownfield financing resources.

Barriers to Brownfield Reuse

Lack of adequate and affordable financing is the most significant barrier to reusing contaminated sites. Lender liability concerns, investor expectations for return o...

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