Gary O'Connor Quoted on Challenges and Opportunities of Brownfield Redevelopment

Gary O'Connor, co-chair of the firm's Real Estate, Energy, Environmental and Land Use practice, was quoted in a Waterbury Republican-American article about brownfield redevelopment in Connecticut, entitled "Brownfield Redevelopment Presents Many Hurdles." 

Gary currently serves as co-chair of Connecticut's Brownfields Working Group and has been one of the leaders in Connecticut in revising state environmental laws.  He has extensive experience with Brownfield sites in Waterbury, and said there are several common impediments to brownfield redevelopment.  “One is lack of understanding" (of the full environmental contamination at the outset of the project). "What’s important to a developer is understanding the risks, and how long is it going to take to remediate the site. Time is definitely a factor but money is the bigger factor. And the market that you’re in.”

However, he points out that the benefits of redeveloping these sites are worth addressing the risks.  "The biggest travesty is allowing these abandoned factories to deteriorate further. They don’t produce taxes. They aren’t generating business.... The sin would be not to redevelop these and remediate them.”

To read the full article, visit the Waterbury Republican American website.