We will dedicate $15 million to capitalize a fund to support brownfield redevelopment
Although a City brownfield program will increase oversight for remediation projects, many sites will still require financial assistance to begin redevelopment. That's why the City will provide $15 million to a public-private revolving fund. The Remediation Fund will provide below-market rates to developers of contaminated land. These incentives will be directed toward remediation and related costs, including testing and environmental insurance.

The City will partner with private institutions to raise 70% of the Fund's total capital. Because of the risk involved with lending against contaminated property, current interest rates are often greater than 13%. By using City capital in a revolving fund, the interest rate can be much lower, reducing the costs of remediation and testing.

Progress (as of 4/22/08):
The City is designing a revolving loan fund program to spur the highest levels of remediation which it aims to make operational in 2009. To inform the program design, in 2007, the Administration did research and conducted interviews with real estate and community experts to determine what form of funding would provide the most assistance in meeting this target. Interviews with representatives of site owners and small developers identified inadequate financing for site assessment and remediation as two hurdles blocking the cleanup of sites.