BL Companies Director of Business Development and Client Care Sam Haydock appeared on the Real Finds Podcast with host Gordon Lamphere. Sam talked about how abandoned industrial and commercial properties represent some of the most undervalued opportunities in real estate, and walked listeners through the complexities that come along with navigating a maze of environmental due diligence, contamination risk and government incentive programs. With his more than three decades of experience, Sam expertly explained how developers and investors can turn contaminated, overlooked properties into productive, tax-generating assets. Here is an excerpt:
“Abandoned properties don’t generate taxes. They don’t put people to work. So from the standpoint of municipal and state economics, having previously developed properties sitting idle doesn’t make sense.
There’s the impact on communities. Blight has a significant impact on quality of life and how people feel about where they live. And when you see abandoned properties, empty, dark, smoke stacks, old scary-looking industrial facilities, or just a lot of junk left on a site, drums in the back, weeds, the lawns overgrown, all that stuff has a real impact on people and how they feel about their neighborhood.
Also, good developable land is getting harder and harder to find. A lot of these properties sit on land that’s got good location, good access, maybe it’s got good access for transportation or truck routes. A lot of these old towns were built and developed around these industrial commercial facilities. The neighborhood was created so people could walk to work and now at the heart of this neighborhood you have something sitting there empty, deserted. So all those factors play into why redevelopment of brownfields is so important.”
Listen to the full episode here, or wherever you get your podcasts.