Remediation & Brownfield Redevelopment
Environmental contamination can stall redevelopment and investment in otherwise promising properties. Foley helps clients unlock the potential of brownfield sites, transforming underutilized or contaminated properties into productive assets that support economic growth, community revitalization, and environmental sustainability.
Brownfield Redevelopment Solutions
Our nationally recognized environmental team provides strategic counsel across all phases of brownfield redevelopment. We guide clients through complex regulatory frameworks, manage liability risks, and help secure financial incentives to make redevelopment feasible. Whether you are a developer, municipality, nonprofit, or investor, we help you navigate the legal, technical, and financial challenges of remediation and redevelopment.
More than ever before the federal, state, and local governments have prioritized financial incentives and tax credits for siting projects on brownfield sites.
“When we encounter complex issues in our projects, Foley is always well equipped to bring in the necessary expertise.”
— Chambers USA, Natural Resources & Environment – Wisconsin
Our Services Include:
- Environmental due diligence and risk assessment
- Brownfield redevelopment planning and permitting
- Regulatory compliance and enforcement defense
- Site investigation and remediation strategy development
- Negotiation of liability protections and cleanup agreements
- Public-private partnerships and infrastructure planning
- Tax credit and incentive structuring (e.g., New Markets Tax Credits, Opportunity Zones)
- Environmental insurance and risk transfer
- Real estate acquisition and land use/zoning counsel
- Environmental aspects of M&A and project finance
Representative Experience:
- Community Retail Redevelopment: Represented a 501(c)(3) nonprofit in pre-development planning, budgeting, and brownfields loan negotiations for a 40,000-square-foot shopping center in a historically underserved neighborhood in Jacksonville, Florida.
- Waterfront Industrial Site Transformation: Structured $14 million in New Markets Tax Credit financing to support a $150 million redevelopment of six acres of contaminated industrial land in Milwaukee’s Harbor District. The project also involved securing state and local financial incentives and has served as a model for similar redevelopments of former airfields, freight terminals, and manufacturing sites.
- University Campus Expansion: Provided environmental and regulatory counsel to the University of Illinois – Chicago in the $525 million, 10-year redevelopment of 68 acres in the South Campus area. The project overcame complex site assembly and contamination issues to create an award-winning mixed-use academic and residential district.
- Municipal Brownfield Financing: Served as bond counsel to a Wisconsin municipality for the private placement and issuance of $300,000 in General Obligation Promissory Notes under the Ready for Reuse Loan Program, supporting local brownfield remediation efforts.
- Landfill-to-Entertainment District Conversion: Represented the developer of Ballpark Commons in Franklin, Wisconsin, in the redevelopment of a former municipal landfill into a sports and entertainment district anchored by a minor league stadium. The project involved a multi-year public-private partnership with both city and county stakeholders.
- Industrial Energy Recovery Facility: Represented a publicly traded company in the development, construction, and financing of a brownfield-based facility for waste heat, power, and steam production.
- Recreational Complex Redevelopment: Advised a consortium of companies and a municipality on the transformation of a former landfill into a 50-acre championship soccer complex. Foley secured environmental liability protections, terminated legacy liabilities, and negotiated a turnkey construction contract for the facility.
- Corporate-to-Community Redevelopment: Represented Brunswick Corporation in the conversion of a former manufacturing site into a public library. The project leveraged brownfields stimulus funding and required coordination between the U.S. EPA and Wisconsin DNR, as well as resolution of groundwater contamination issues with adjacent property owners.
- Distressed Asset Acquisition: Represented a group of investors in securing $5.4 million in acquisition financing for the purchase of a manufacturing company through a Chapter 128 receivership auction under Wisconsin law.