Looking a 9 acre lot that used to be a salvage yard/auto shop. Anyone ever had to contend with EPA, Phase I, Phase II reports, Brownfield Designation? Many questions. What am I getting myself into? Any advice on what to plan for or expect would be greatly appreciated. How do I get an estimate for clean-upbefore making an offer? Does the current owner have to apply for Brownfield or could I after I buy it? Can adjacent properties sue me for cleanup later on? First time commercial buyer here.
Doing this in reverse from a finance need. Already have an existing Storage on a prior gas station location. Go to your State DNR group and tell them your story. They will give you a data base where you can search using the prior company name. See if the state has them listed and what the status is. Then go from there discussing with the DNR as to next steps if any.
Ours is noted as cleaned up back in 1991 and no further actions needed. Do this easy step first.
Rental Property Investor · Columbus, GA · Member since 2016 · 623 posts · 337 votes
5y
I’m sure these can be very lucrative but I’d advise you to do some market research. Find others that are doing what you want to do and see what their demand is. It’s basically supply and demand economics. If you don’t want to go this journey alone, you can work with commercial property advisors (mentors) and other like companies who will take a percentage of the investment provided the deal makes sense and meets their criteria. Keep going!
Real Estate Broker · Portland, OR · Member since 2019 · 4k+ posts · 2k+ votes
5y
"Anyone ever had to contend with EPA, Phase I, Phase II reports,"
Unless the seller owner has them, you'll need to pay for one to figure remediation which, being a salvage yard, is likely UNLESS you can get the local govt to pitch in or they really want it developed (don't think a storage yard is that big a demand).
Phase 1 - Means the certified guy does a title search and cursory inspection for prior use. Figure avg = $2K or so. Assuming a salvage yard is there makes this moot. Cars dripping oil on the dirt is not good (same reason they don't like gravel parking lots).
Phase II - Means they layout a grid and do core samples to figure how dirty it is. Avg = $5K+
You may want to see what your state EPA (or whatever the enviro place is) has on record. If the Fed EPA knows about it, I'd walk.
Also, if issues, you're going to need to get a NFA (No Further Action) letter from the state (if it's not a Fed issue) and those can take a while. That's my exp with OR/WA. Do all of this BEFORE you take title since stuff can "pop" up.
Doing this in reverse from a finance need. Already have an existing Storage on a prior gas station location. Go to your State DNR group and tell them your story. They will give you a data base where you can search using the prior company name. See if the state has them listed and what the status is. Then go from there discussing with the DNR as to next steps if any.
Ours is noted as cleaned up back in 1991 and no further actions needed. Do this easy step first.
Rental Property Investor · TN · Member since 2018 · 2k+ posts · 2k+ votes
5y
Be VERY careful. It may be no further action today, and in 5 years the standard changes and now your site is documented to have a pollutant like benzene that causes cancer at the level you have test results for.
Now every employee who every worked there wants a piece of your money. And now you have clean up to do. And there are 3 choices generally: 1 you dig it up and take it elsewhere where you are still liable for it, 2 you build an incinerator on site and dig it up and burn it and dispose of the ashes somewhere where you always have liability for it or 3 you leave in there and put a cap over it and never disturb the cap, replace the cap when it degrades, and hope and pray the groundwater table does not move the pollutants off onto someone else's property where you will then be responsible for them.
I did site assessments for the federal EPA in my regular job many years ago. I run form those properties. For me the risk is not work it. There is much better low hanging fruit.