Tax savings & brownfield site remediation: A win-win situation

For years, federal, state and local governments have sought to incentivize the redevelopment of blighted and contaminated properties (so-called “brownfields”) by offering developers a range of economic incentives traditionally structured as grants and/or tax breaks. These programs aim to encourage developers to redevelop brownfield properties that would otherwise be ignored by lowering the significant barriers to entry for developing brownfield properties — like the substantial predevelopment capital outlays required to perform initial investigation and subsequent cleanup before true development activities can commence.

Many state and local government programs have long offered developers tax breaks, often in the form of property tax abatements or property tax credits, in exchange for the remediation and redevelopment of brownfield properties. One such example is the Georgia Brownfield Program, which allows participants to offset certain environmental investigation and