HOW BROWNFIELDS BECAME LUXURY NEIGHBORHOODS
As NYC expands further and further to Queens and Brooklyn, many real estate professionals talk about "the next hot neighborhood". For me as a historian, it's important to really uncover what your new development its sitting on.
What is a brownfield?
According to Wikipedia, "Brownfield land is a term used in urban planning to describe any previously developed land that is not currently in use, whether contaminated or not or, in North America, more specifically to describe land previously used for industrial or commercial purposes with known or suspected pollution including soil contamination due to hazardous waste."
Many states have grant programs to incentivize the redevelopment of brownfield sites; however, doing so at a more local level presents unique challenges and opportunities. New York City created and manages the City’s Brownfield Incentive Grants (BIG) Program. BIG is a unique funding model. In fact, the NYC Department of Environmental Remediation has a program in place to give pre-development, enviornmental investigation grants and clean-up grants to developers interested in taking over a brownfield or contaminated site. The cost to remediate these sites, or remove toxic waste, or at times burry the waste deep enough is costly, therefore the city has stepped up to encourage change in these neighborhoods.
Since the program’s creation in 2010, more than 300 applications have been processed, resulting in grants that has reimbursed over $6.5 million in eligible brownfield project expenses. More information on BIG regulations, grant types, awards, requirements, qualified vendor information and applications can be found at: www.nyc.gov/BIG
In this Buyer's Market, it's more important than ever to understand the rezoning of the property where you'd buying, the land it is sitting on, and how the neighborhood is changing. A great interactive map from Property Shark shows all the brown fields, toxic dumping grounds, and instances where oil or waste was spilled or contaminated. Check it out here: Brownfield and Toxic Waste 5 Borough Interactive Map
Major NYC Neighborhoods that use to be Brown Fields:
Williamsburg
Long Island City
Battery Park City