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  • 08 Jun 2020 10:24 AM | Anonymous member (Administrator)

    Good project summary from Buffalo describing plans to transfer a legacy industrial property into a data center campus. @buffnews

    by The Buffalo News Editorial Board

    The state Department of Environmental Conservation made the right call on the Tonawanda Coke property. A private brownfield cleanup plus a parallel state Superfund remediation will get the toxin-filled land cleaned to the highest standard while restoring part of the property to be put back into productive use. That is a win-win.

    Read more...

    Posted June 8, 2020


  • 18 May 2020 11:40 AM | Anonymous member (Administrator)

    Brownfield property for sale gets some press in Buffalo with a good description of local area, and a good summary of financial incentives from the State, the County and a utility. @queenseyes @buffalorising

    A significant property in N. Tonawanda is on the market. The 235 River Road portfolio is being listed by Hanna Commercial Real Estate for $889,000. While there are two buildings on the site, this property is calling for a fresh, significant mixed use development due to its close proximity to the water. Anything built up at this property would have views onto the water. The parcel is also in close proximity to Riviera Theatre and The Canal, with immediate access onto Tonawanda Island.

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  • 18 May 2020 11:37 AM | Anonymous member (Administrator)

    @NJBIA has summarized recent panel recommendations for @NJEDA economic incentives, including brownfields funding, with focus on how to manage caps on incentives and tax credits. @bobconsidine

    By Bob Considine

    A legislatively appointed panel charged with making recommendations on how New Jersey should structure its economic development incentives released its final report today amidst a stalemate between Gov. Phil Murphy and the Legislature.

    The bipartisan Select Committee on Economic Growth Strategies, led by State Senators Senator Bob Smith and Joseph Pennacchio, made 25 recommendations to control the costs of the program, increase transparency, and improve the public benefit of incentives offered to businesses to create jobs and invest in New Jersey.

    Read more...

  • 12 May 2020 10:32 AM | Anonymous member (Administrator)

    By Steve Dwyer and Connor A. Jaffe*

    It’s been one year (May 2019), since the New York City Council ratified what is known as “local law 97,” seen as the centerpiece of the city’s Climate Mobilization Act (CMA). One overarching and lofty goal is reducing citywide carbon emissions 40% by 2030 and a whopping 80% by 2050. 

    It will be interesting to see at what level of fallout has occurred -- and will -- during the ensuing years. 

    Some background: LL 97 recognizes both that the city’s buildings are the single largest contributor to greenhouse gas emissions, accounting for nearly 70% of total citywide emissions in 2014, and that the technology and the overall affinity exists to enable the city to reach this ambitious emissions reduction targets. 

    Drilling down further, LL 97 requires buildings larger than 25,000 square feet to meet strict greenhouse gas emissions limits starting in 2024, and is expected to reduce cumulative emissions from large buildings at least 40% citywide by 2030 through building retrofits. In addition, the CMA establishes a new Property Assessed Clean Energy (PACE) program to enable retrofits through long-term financing, and requires the installation of solar PV and green roofs on new buildings and major renovations.

    So what does it all spell for the BCONE and NYC Brownfield Partnership? We know that because many brownfield redevelopers and their constituents (environmental remediation consultants, architects, etc.) are hard wired to advocate for and then execute sustainable building construction—it’s in their DNA—there’s a good chance our membership owns or holds stakes in buildings that A.) might already be fully in energy-efficiency compliance or B.) are facing minor capital expenditures to fully comply to LL 97. 

    (It’s hard to say without a consensus in place; thus, it would be ideal for BCONE to build that consensus about what’s at stake for members, all based on feedback to the organization over the subsequent months. This isn’t a news theme that’s going away.)    

    The motivators driving LL 97 are sound. The law components focus on the city’s largest buildings to promote energy efficiency, beneficial electrification and renewable energy while creating new, good-paying jobs. It also discourages continued reliance on polluting fossil fuels, cuts down on harmful air pollution that causes respiratory illnesses, and saves building owners money over time by lowering operating expenses.

    Here are some points of discussion, questions and potential end results that could emanate from this law, ones that could be instructive to the coalition as you wade through the weeds: 

    • One potential outcome of the law is that if building owners find they can’t retrofit buildings because it will break the bank, will this result in building foreclosures?  The razing of older structures in Manhattan and the other boroughs? What percent of the high-rise portfolio falls within this designation? 
    •  For projects that had been/are in progress—and the COVID-19 health pandemic is now another profound X factor to add to the mix on top of everything else—how much is this law affecting a developer’s building construction blueprints? What is the additional role of brownfield architects to modify project specs? This factor is particularly impactful for brownfield projects in NYC that had already begun groundbreaking in, say, 2017 or ’18—and now must make serious adaptations to building function and design once they learned of LL 97 last spring. 
    • What additional costs does a NYC developer face in having to adhere to the law, reflected in the in-progress projects? Did many developers already prepare for this law in advance, perhaps reading the tea leaves? And if they did, has it served them well? 

    Assistance Is Available   

    Several energy efficiency design contractors are working to empower building managers to boost efficiency and cost-savings through an intelligent, intuitive building energy management platform.

    Along those lines, the NYC Retrofit Accelerator (found on the web at www.retrofitaccelerator.cityofnewyork.us) offers free, personalized advisory services that streamline the process of making energy efficiency improvements to buildings. The retrofit accelerator can help owners develop an effective strategy to comply with the Climate Mobilization Act.

    The Accelerator offers free help, simple fixes and compelling results, according to its website.  Retrofit experts can help building owners make building improvements, working one-on-one to understand each building owner’s needs and help draft long term capital plans to save energy. The NYCRA can also connect owners with qualified contractors to do the job; assist in finding cash incentives and financing to help underwrite upgrades; and train building staff to allow building to runs efficiently in a sustained fashion. 

    Because we know it’s difficult to quantify to the letter what is exactly at stake for members regarding LL 97, feedback to the organization over the subsequent months is paramount. Please feel free to email the BCONE staff (sboyle@geiconsultants.com) or myself (steve.dwyer59@att.net) and let us know how this one-year-old law is impacting your business due to retrofit obligations needed to be performed.  

    Highlights of Local Law 97

    • The Climate Mobilization Act is expected to: Reduce New York City’s overall emissions 10 percent by 2030
    • Requires buildings larger than 25,000 square feet to meet greenhouse gas emissions caps, beginning in 2024
    • Applies to 50,000 buildings across New York City (those larger than 25,000 square feet) across 22,000 properties
    • Sets emissions limits based on occupancy classifications of spaces within a building
    • Eliminate 6 million tons of greenhouse gas emissions by 2030, the equivalent of taking
    • Remove 1.3 million cars from the road every year
    • Create 26,700 green jobs by 2030
    • Prevent 50 to 130 premature deaths annually by 2030 prevent 150 hospital visits annually by 2030.  

    *Note on the Co-Author:  Mr. Jaffe is a senior studying Finance and Real Estate at the Leeds School of Business at the University of Colorado-Boulder. BCONE’s Steve Dwyer assisted Mr. Jaffe with his independent research on LL97.

  • 11 May 2020 11:24 AM | Anonymous member (Administrator)

    More brownfield projects getting off the ground in Boston area with support of state level funding. This project is 44 acres with plans for almost 700 housing units. @JosephKriesberg is the contact for more information.

    Massachusett's Governor Charlie Baker, Housing and Economic Development Secretary Mike Kennealy, and MassDevelopment President and CEO Lauren Liss joined City of Boston Chief of Housing and Neighborhood Development Sheila Dillon, Brownfields Advisory Group Chair and President and CEO of MACDC Joe Kriesberg, Jamaica Plain Neighborhood Development Corporation (JPNDC) Executive Director Richard Thal, and state and local officials to announce over $2.6 million in Brownfields Redevelopment Fund awards to support the environmental assessment and cleanup of 16 contaminated and challenging sites across the Commonwealth.

    Read more...

  • 11 May 2020 11:21 AM | Anonymous member (Administrator)

    Reminder the NJIT municipal assistance program is taking off! This program builds on NJDEP's Community Collaborative Initiative (CCI). @njbiz @LindaLindner

    The New Jersey Economic Development Authority (NJEDA) board of directors on Thursday approved a memorandum of understanding (MOU) with the New Jersey Institute of Technology (NJIT) to establish the NJ Brownfields Center at NJIT.

    The Brownfields Center will provide a variety of technical assistance and resources to assist communities in the state with the process of transforming brownfield sites into community assets.

    Read more...

  • 07 May 2020 10:18 AM | Anonymous member (Administrator)

    Historic mill has a variety of contaminants from 150-year industrial use

    By Stephen Williams, Schenectady Daily Gazette (NY)

    Plans to rehabilitate the historic former Victory Mills industrial site in the village of Victory into apartments with an on-site microbrewery have advanced to the point where an environmental cleanup is under active discussion.

    The state Department of Environmental Conservation is reviewing plans for a brownfield cleanup at the old mill on Gates Avenue, which was used for various industrial purposes for more than 150 years, from 1846 until about 2000. There is known soil and groundwater contamination, but the full extent has yet to be investigated.

    For the entire article, see

    https://dailygazette.com/article/2020/04/30/victory-mill-environmental-cleanup-plan-proposed-project-to-turn-saratoga-county-site-into-apartments

  • 04 May 2020 3:56 PM | Anonymous member (Administrator)

    Creative use of state land bank to manage environmental liabilities effectively supports brownfield redevelopment in Syracuse.

    by Tim Knauss, Syracuse.com

    The former Winkelman Co. property on Syracuse’s East Side was apparently abandoned by its owner years ago. And no one else wanted it. The potential liability for cleaning up asbestos, discarded tires or other pollution made ownership too risky.

    Now that may change.

    Read more...

  • 04 May 2020 3:52 PM | Anonymous member (Administrator)

    Steve Hoover of SGR notes the recent addition of funds to EPA loan program based on high demand.

    by Phillip E. Hoover, Smith Gambrell & Russell LLP

    The Small Business Liability Relief and Brownfields Revitalization Act authorizes the EPA to make additional funds available in any year based on the demand for the funding. Due to high demand, the EPA announced last Friday that it is offering an additional $5,000,000 to recipients of its Brownfield revolving loan fund agreements in fiscal year 2020. Federal Brownfield funding contributes to the redevelopment of the underuse properties that may be contaminated by providing loans for site investigation and cleanup.

  • 27 Apr 2020 11:32 AM | Anonymous member (Administrator)

    Brownfield money continues to flow from state level fund in Massachusetts.

    By Daniel Monahan, Sentinel & Enterprise

    Two important parcels of land in the city will be assessed for environmental contamination and cleaned up thanks to the city’s $87,000 share of $2.6 million in Brownfields Redevelopment Fund awards distributed this week.

    Gov. Charlie Baker announced the fund awards on Thursday. The city will be receiving $87,000 to remove old transformers from the former B.F. Brown School and to remediate a vacant 1.3-acre lot at 80 Lunenburg St.

    Read more...


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