While commercial real estate developers always seem to find a way, the stark truth remains: there’s not much undeveloped land left in the Greater Los Angeles area. Between the geographic constraints, tight zoning restrictions, and firmly established residential areas, finding new ground for commercial projects is a challenge, to say the least. It’s why Brownfields, properties that have previously been developed but are potentially contaminated with environmental concerns, remain so important to the region’s commercial future.
Brownfield Sites Offer a Chance at Locations That New Developments Can’t Meet
Who knows what LA’s commercial landscape would look like today if it weren’t for its burgeoning industrial history? Zoned areas are littered with former manufacturing plants, warehouses, and distribution facilities, giving the city and its submarkets a wealth of Brownfield properties that keep commercial investors busy. What makes these abandoned industrial facilities particularly attractive is their frequent positioning adjacent to active rail lines, ports, freeways, and population centers. These are prime locations for attracting the modern commercial user. And with so much of the region already densely developed, it’s difficult, if not impossible, to replicate the optimal locations these Brownfield properties provide.
The obvious benefit that the Brownfield offers in the market and sub-markets of Los Angeles: it allows commercial space to be created by developing existing urban infrastructure. This effectively bypasses the need to push to the outskirts, keeping the focus on the much more desirable city center and logistical hubs. It’s a strategy that tightly aligns with the city’s regional planning by getting the most efficient use out of existing infrastructure, including roads, utilities, and transit, without contributing to the city’s runaway sprawl. Commercial users also enjoy the fact that these infill Brownfields provide convenient access to labor, clients, and transportation systems.
Clean Up Concerns and Clarity
California’s stringent environmental restrictions may render Brownfield properties more trouble than they’re worth to some commercial investors. But these restrictions also bring refreshing clarity. Federal and state guidelines, partially informed by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, set straightforward expectations for environmental due diligence, cleanup standards, and liability protections.
Investing in a Brownfield often requires frequent consultation with the California Department of Toxic Substances Control, an organization that helps to devise clear-cut roads to remediation and regulatory closure. Make no mistake: cleaning up a Brownfield isn’t easy. But with so many guidelines in place, the process leaves little room for uncertainty.
The Social Responsibility Satisfied by Brownfield Investment
Redevelopment of Brownfield properties breathes new life into structures that would otherwise remain idle, stagnating in industrial districts with no purpose. With a limited supply of properties at this nexus of scale and location, revitalized Brownfields tend to find consistent demand among the area’s industrial, logistic, creative office, and mixed-use commercial endeavors. Redevelopment of a Brownfield also brings more jobs to the local economy, along with a potential increase in tax revenue to areas suffering through long-term disinvestment. Savvy owners and investors can use these conditions to reposition assets while giving back to the community through renewed economic activity.
Looking Back to the Path Forward
With strictly limited commercial land in the Greater Los Angeles area, the city can’t wait for brand new developments. Rather, it needs to consider the stagnating property that already exists. Commercial investors looking for the city’s most underutilized commercial properties need look no further than the area’s wealth of Brownfield structures. By revitalizing these largely forgotten industrial properties into active commercial space, developers and investors alike meet the hungry market while supporting sustainable urban growth.
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