棕地土地收购

The site acquisition phase generally runs concurrently with the cleanup/redevelopment phase.

管理项目

 

合同谈判

涉及棕地地产的环境问题的复杂性必须在买方和卖方之间解决. 在合同谈判期间, 投资意向书通常用于厘清买卖双方在财产转让中各自承担的责任. 例如, 如果该物业有现有的建筑，将被重用, this may include normal property and building costs like repairing roofs or HVAC systems.  谈判还包括确定修复的责任在哪里，以及重建完成后由谁来管理责任.  其他需要协商的问题可能包括确定清理的各个方面的责任，包括现场和现场. 非现场关注并同意维护补救和机构控制的长期责任.  The Remedial Action Plan must be approved prior to site acquisition.

融资

One of the developer’s roles is to provide financing to develop the property. To ensure that cleanup and redevelopment are not hindered by a lack of funding, 所有公共和私人资金来源(例如.g., grants, loans) identified in the pre-development step should be secured. 如果有必要的话, 一个非营利组织, 信任, or other funds may be established to receive and distribute this funding.  在很多情况下, 利用债务融资, where loans are secured through a financial institution for the redevelopment. Private investors may also back developers through equity financing. Public financing may be utilized for many components of the redevelopment, 包括楼宇拆卸, 基础设施开发, 清理活动.

Various factors affect any given 银行的 basic view about financing brownfield projects.  Therefore, to the extent they can, site users should try to determine the following:

  • 银行的 市场决策结构 ——它们是一家纯本地利益的本地银行吗, are they a national bank with policies set in a distant home office, 等.  This will influence 银行的 flexibility and approach to specific local situations. 
  • 银行的 活动范围或市场利基 -- is 银行的 focus primarily on new commercial projects in the far suburbs, 种植区的多户住宅, 中心城区的结构修复, or new or retrofitted industrial projects; determining this will offer some sense of 银行的 receptivity to brownfield projects – the lender not accustomed to risk or reuse, 谁只关注新建的绿地, 可能不适合你.
  • 银行的 复杂程度和知识水平 base -- the more the lender knows about and understands risks linked to contamination, 保险等工具可以解决这些问题, the more willing they are likely to be to finance such projects.  
  • 银行的 过去的经验 在为类似的现代化和能源效率项目融资时，承担过这类项目的金融家不太可能被恐怖故事所左右，更有可能对这类贷款持开放态度.  你能做的最糟糕的事情就是去找一个刚刚在棕地项目上受到损失的贷款人——他们将永远害羞. 
  • 出借人数量 “触发”问题 -- the types of red flags that will dissuade them from lending, such as past problems with collateral disposition or adequacy of value, 类似的事情.
  • 银行的 新修复技术的舒适度, 比如植物修复,  以及他们了解新技术如何运作的内在能力，以及它们实现预期利益的可能性  
  • 银行的 comfort with state VCPs and the liability relief and finality they bring.  

 All of these factors may be brought to bear in a brownfield financing situation.  在这些参数之内, the decision-making process is a fluid one within any given bank, 在信贷员解释的背景下, the reputation of the loan officer (within the bank) who may be handling your loan request, the nature of the bank loan committee and their comfort with basic data presented, 诸如此类. 

归根到底, the key factor is risk -- the chances that problems are likely to arise with a project, 相对于贷款人的潜在收益. Risk -- ways to quantify it, avoid it, and manage it -- is the number one concern of lenders.  As they consider risk for any given project, many bankers follow the credo of the so-called “信用的关键c”,即:

  • 能力 偿还贷款;
  • 抵押品 为保证贷款而提供的价值
  • 资本 on hand – and the borrower’s extenuating circumstances that could impact the borrower during the life of the loan; and
  • 字符 借款人(在向承销商提供信息时)正直和直率的声誉, 他们在社会中的地位, 以及类似类型的无形资产)

 Especially in the tight financial climate brought about by the economic crises over the past year, as banks consider underwriting projects with brownfield ramifications, they will look and this additional level of risk; the financial risk created by contamination falls into three broad categories:

  1. remediation-based风险 – the costs of identifying and characterizing site contamination, 清理, complying with federal and state regulations governing contamination along the way, and the potential cost of defending lawsuits brought by regulators or other parties. 
  2. 财产价值减值风险 -对邻近物业造成滋扰的款项, 如整治期间的噪音, payments for diminution of a neighboring property’s value because of the brownfield determination, 以及由于抵押方的担保权益减少而向相邻房产的贷方支付的款项. 
  3. 人身伤害风险 – payments required because of injuries caused by migrating contaminants, or on-site injuries.

这些风险可以通过几种方式消除.  例如, 一些土地所有者利用土地契约，将土地的使用与地下土地和地下水分开.  在其他情况下, 卖方可以向买方提供赔偿协议，详细说明未发现污染的处理和赔偿方式.  还有一些方法是卖方根据买方承担的风险程度降低房产的购买价格.    

Commercial banks may be the best source of conventional capital for brownfield transactions.  They are required by federal regulation to maintain diverse portfolios of investments, and to put money back into the communities whose residents make deposits into them; the Community Reinvestment Act (CRA) requires banks to disclose their level of lending in the neighborhoods in which they have branches and from which they get deposits.  Brownfield investments generally help them earn and maintain their CRA status. 

棕地的公共/私人融资 (PDF)


监管的承诺

As an incentive to encourage non-responsible parties to purchase and redevelopment Brownfield sites, 州布朗菲尔德立法制定了各种机制，为拥有或打算购买布朗菲尔德财产的人提供责任保护, 但并没有造成污染. 责任救济或保护被纳入布朗菲尔德项目授权法规，并起源于自愿清理计划(VCP)。. 在VCPs, 受影响财产的购买者对造成排放不负有责任，以获得环境责任的限制作为清理的交换. 通常, 潜在购买者(任何考虑购买受污染财产但不对造成影响负责的人)必须通过协议备忘录(MOA)或其他类型的补救协议与国家环境保护机构签订正式协议. These documents are usually non binding and the responsibilities of both parties are clearly defined, particularly with regard to the site investigation and clean up performance.  If the remediation is completed to the satisfaction of the regulators, the VCP entity can receive protection from future environmental actions.

Several liability protection mechanisms are available to the states to provide liability protection. 它们的简介如下:

禁止进一步行动(NFA)信: a written determination by the state environmental protection agency that, 经对该场地的历史使用情况进行评估，并经国家环境保护部门认为有必要进行的其他调查或者采取的措施, 现场没有排放的污染物，现场存在的或从现场迁移的任何排放的污染物已按照适用的补救条例进行了补救. 这封信既可以在PA完成后发出，也可以在同等努力下发出，证明现场没有排放, or at the end of the remediation phase when the clean up is completed.

不起诉公约(CNTS): 某些州提供碳纳米管，为布朗菲尔德法规直接提供的责任保护未涵盖的布朗菲尔德项目提供责任保护. 例如, 碳纳米管可提供给有因果责任的一方, someone who is not eligible for liability protection under the statute. Protection through CNTA is also available to an eligible person who can reach only a temporary solution. 这些协议保护无辜的财产所有者，一旦财产被修复到适当的标准，就不会受到额外的补救.  Entities directly responsible for causing the impacts are not eligible for CNTS.

完成证书(COC): 这些是由适当的州环境机构签署的协议，证明清理工作已经按照批准的清理计划完成. COC通过消除国家未来强制行动的可能性(有限例外)来限制财产所有者的责任, such as fraud or releases which occur subsequent to the clean up). The limitations conferred by the COC are permanent and benefits include the following:

  • 责任保护适用于全部财产
  • The liability protection is transferable to successor owners
  • 责任保护扩展到涵盖未来可能导致更严格的清理标准或指定或以前不受管制的材料为危险的监管变化

确保财产和正式承诺

If the property is not owned by the entity performing cleanup and redevelopment, 它可以通过购买或出售协议获得, 或非自愿取得方式，如丧失抵押品赎回权. During the formal commitment, contracts and documents are signed and exchanged.  一旦获得, any zoning changes or variances that may be required for the planned reuse should be pursued (e.g., changing the property’s zoning from industrial to commercial).

    
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