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How Smart Tenants Lease Brownfields

By Jane Snoddy Smith

Increasingly today more prime locations for tenants are situated on land that was previously used for industrial or commercial uses and now has real or perceived environmental contamination. As these often called “brownfield” sites are redeveloped, they become attractive locations for leased space. These sites can be in urban centers where available space for development is scarce. The location can be convenient for a developed market of customers which a tenant can capture from absent competitors. Where once a tenant might not consider an investment in such a tainted location, now a tenant must avoid the temptation to overlook the risks. These risks do not apply only to industrial tenants or ground lessees. How a tenant evaluates and manages the risk will determine if a lease of brownfield property is a smart decision.

A smart tenant will consider these factors: the source and location of the contamination; the status of remediation; the ongoing monitoring or further cleanup activities on-site; the controls instituted by governmental authorities that may run with the land; the tenant's intended use and control of the premises and project; how the tenant can independently verify information about the site; the financial assurance the tenant has that it will be compensated for any costs the tenant may incur; and the perception of customers, invitees and employees about the safety of the site.

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