The New York City Brownfield Partnership, a non-profit public-private partnership promoting the cleanup and redevelopment of brownfield sites in New York City, has just released another update of the groundbreaking 2014 study (updated in 2015) analyzing the impact of the New York State Brownfield Cleanup Program (NYS BCP) on the cleanup and redevelopment of brownfield sites in New York State. The 2014 study, the 2015 update, and the current 2021 study (see copy here) were authored by Barry F. Hersh, Clinical Associate Professor at New York University’s Schack Institute of Real Estate.

The update analyzes the overall NYS BCP with an emphasis as what has occurred since 2015, which is the third generation of the program.  The key conclusions of the 2021 update include the following:

• Over three generations the NYS BCP has become a more targeted and effective redevelopment tool across the state. Formerly contaminated industrial sites have been remediated and redeveloped, especially benefitting upstate communities. In NYC, the BCP has made a significant contribution to housing, including affordable housing.
• The NYS BCP continues to grow; both the number of applications and the number of projects receiving Certificates of Completion (COC) continue to increase.
• Both the value of private development investment and amount of tax credits also continue to grow. The on-site rate of return consistently shows a ratio of $6.63 in private development for every $1 of tax credits.
• Legislative changes have resulted in fewer very large tax credits to individual projects, an increase in moderate-sized projects, more affordable housing and Environmental Zone (En-Zone) projects, and more mid-range industrial projects.
• Brownfield projects have been completed in all regions across New York State and 40 counties.
• NYS BCP projects in NYC have supported development of 20,000 residential units, of which 6,400 are affordable housing units.
• More than half of all NYS BCP projects have been located in economically distressed En-Zones, with the proportion of projects in En-Zones increasing since 2015; many BCP projects are also in Environmental Justice and Brownfield Opportunity Areas.
• As the NYS BCP has grown, Brownfield Tax Credits have become more accepted and incorporated by banks as a part of project financing.

For further information about the updated study, please contact Ernie Rossano, President of the New York City Brownfield Partnership, at (631) 756-8917, Ezgi Karayel, President-Elect of the New York City Brownfield Partnership, at (347) 871-0750) or George Duke, Chair of the Partnership’s Legislative/Policy Committee, at (646) 915-0236).