A Brownfield is real property where redevelopment or reuse may be complicated by the presence or potential presence of a hazardous substance, pollutant, or contaminant. The environmental lawyers at Jennings, Haug & Cunningham have extensive experience in both environmental and commercial real estate law, and have successfully assisted clients with navigating every stage of Brownfield development in Arizona, which includes:
- Conducting pre-purchase environmental due diligence.
- Advising local governments on condemnation and purchase of Brownfield properties.
- Negotiating with lenders, insurers, and other project stakeholders.
- Drafting purchase agreements and other contracts.
- Obtaining any necessary environmental insurance.
- Accessing any available Brownfields funding.
- Working with clients, consultants, and regulatory agencies to develop and implement a remediation plan that permits the broadest possible use of the property as soon as possible.
- Assisting in joint efforts between private developers and local governments.
- Obtaining necessary agency approvals and permits.
- Negotiating and implementing any necessary deed restrictions.
- Securing No Further Action determinations and site closures.
- In one high-profile representation, our team represented a Brownfield developer in an award-winning Brownfields project that transformed a contaminated and blighted area occupied by aggregate mining operations, closed solid waste landfills, salvage yards, and unregulated industrial facilities into a thriving regional retail center. That project involved:
- Acquiring hundreds of individual parcels, all under separate ownership.
- Removing the site from the Superfund National Priorities List so that it qualified for federal Brownfield redevelopment grants.
- Securing admission of the project to the state Voluntary Cleanup Program.
- Helping to secure environmental insurance coverage for the project.
- Preparing an environmental assessment under the National Environmental Policy Act to qualify for federal Brownfield funds.
- Assisting with legal issues attendant to removal or stabilization of large volumes of lead-contaminated soil.
- Negotiating USEPA approval of a remediation plan for PCB-contaminated soils.
- Handling legal issues connected with the removal, investigation, and remediation of 130 sub-surface structures, including septic tanks and leach pits, underground storage tanks, hydraulic tanks, and dry wells.
- Negotiating deed restrictions.
- Applying for final agency approvals and site closures.
All members of our environmental practice group were involved in that award-winning project.
Other projects have included remediation of residual contamination from historic crop-dusting operations, investigation and remediation of residual contamination from historic dry-cleaning operations, and investigation and removal of a variety of "orphaned" subsurface structures discovered by developers during construction.
