News & Resources

PFAS can be a game changer in commercial real estate transactions. 

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As evolving policies expand the scope of potential liabilities and cleanup costs, environmental professionals must consider what steps they can take to address, mitigate, and manage PFAS-related risks at potentially impacted properties.

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Although EPA is moving full steam ahead in implementing its PFAS Roadmap, there currently is no uniform approach to PFAS regulation in the United States. On the state level, there is a patchwork of various regulatory requirements, from relatively stringent to no regulatory framework at all. Given these inconsistencies and the emergence of new legal obligations, it’s important for environmental professionals to be aware of the applicable requirements and have a strategy for navigating potential PFAS risks and impacts.

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This article presents an update on the PFAS regulatory landscape, and provides 10 practical considerations for addressing PFAS risks on commercial real estate..

Environmental, social, and governance (ESG) factors and mega-economic trends are transforming the commercial real estate market and impacting brownfields redevelopment.

Join Mary Ann Grena Manley, Founder and President, 15E Communications, and guest Dan French, Founder & Principal of dbForesites and President of Brightfield Productions, for a lively discussion about how global factors and ESG are influencing public and private investment in infrastructure, real estate, and beyond. Critical discussion items include the importance of identifying all risks in CRE portfolios that have financial consequences and preparing for the wealth of new opportunities emerging as the transition to the green economy takes shape and worldwide markets shift.

Although ASTM’s Standard Guide for Identifying and Complying with Continuing Obligations (E2790-20) doesn’t get the star treatment the Phase I standard enjoys, it plays a critical role in the environmental due diligence continuum, kicking in for property owners who acquire contaminated sites. Often, these are properties purchased for redevelopment. For parties looking to ensure liability protections under federal law (CERCLA) or state law, or to ensure they’re following best practices for general risk management for contaminated properties, the guide is a critical post-acquisition implementing tool. Notably, the first step the user takes under E2790-20 is to review the site’s Phase I report. 

Join Mary Ann Grena Manley, Founder and President, 15E Communications, and guest Mike Sowinski, Vice President, Terradex, for an enlightening conversation about ASTM’s standard guide for land stewardship.

Billions of dollars are earmarked for environmental cleanup and related redevelopment projects.

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Across the U.S., hundreds of thousands of former industrial and commercial sites, called brownfields, sit idle. If cleaned up and redeveloped, these properties present vast opportunities for economic growth and community improvement.

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Brownfield sites come in many forms. They can be former gas stations, empty warehouses, abandoned railroads, or any former industrial property. Thanks to a truly historic investment in environmental cleanup, billions of federal dollars are now available for redeveloping these underutilized and unused areas while addressing legacy pollution and revitalizing underserved communities. So not only does the infrastructure law aim to mitigate climate change, but it also seeks to stimulate the economy in historically overburdened neighborhoods and advance the Biden administration’s environmental justice (EJ) goal.

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ERIS ORIGINALS latest article provides a comprehensive primer about the infrastructure law.

Climate risk considerations have taken center stage in commercial real estate. ERIS met with the chair of the new ASTM task group focused on standardizing property resilience assessments to discuss the committee’s work and what the new guide means for environmental consultants.

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Today, every player in the real estate ecosystem is concerned about climate risk. Property owners, investors, operators, developers, lenders, and other stakeholders increasingly must evaluate and disclose climate risks of individual properties and property portfolios and align that assessment with existing environmental due diligence processes.

The proliferation of the legal production and sale of cannabis throughout the U.S. has led to tremendous growth of the industry in a relatively short period of time. States where medical and recreational marijuana has been legal for several years show significant increases in the demand for commercial land and facilities.

For the environmental consultant, cannabis-related commercial development is of special interest both for the newness of the field and for the attention it can attract from regulators as well as community and business organizations. Regulatory requirements that apply to cannabis industry businesses range from the more obvious environmental regulations involving air, waste, and water, to unique ones such as local zoning laws relating to the proximity of these facilities to schools.

In the wake of the global pandemic, we have seen an undeniable acceleration of existing work-life, geographic, and demographic trends. While some of these changes may eventually slow or reverse course, it’s clear that others are here to stay and will impact the future footprint of the commercial real estate market.