Making Connections in the Brownfields Marketplace

What is a brownfield? An abandoned, idled or underutilized industrial, commercial or mixed-use facility where redevelopment is complicated by real or perceived environmental contamination.

What is the brownfields marketplace? An event to bring together the region’s top developers with owners of a brownfield or distressed property to establish connections, exchange information and initiate future development deals.

Speed Networking
The St. Louis Regional Brownfields Marketplace provided local municipalities (property owners) the opportunity to meet one-on-one with property developers throughout the metro St. Louis area through a series of what were called “speed networking” sessions. During the sessions, the property owners had six minutes to present potential projects to the developers, during which time contact information was exchanged. At the end of the time, the property owners moved to the next developer. This continued until all property owners had visited all developers.

Informal Networking
Following speed networking, informal networking time allowed those who wished to follow up with a certain developer. In addition, the marketplace offered an informational overview with keynote speakers—John Askew, new EPA Region 7 administrator, and Jim Gilstrap with Missouri Department of Natural Resources—and a resource fair for all levels of government to provide communities and developers with information and contacts for potential brownfield transactions.

Benefits
This one-of-a-kind event gave participants the chance to:

• initiate the next great deal;
• meet one-on-one with numerous municipal leaders/property owners who want to make a deal in one setting;
• talk with local, state and federal agencies about incentives; and
• check out and see what the competition is doing.

The primary benefit that developers reported walking away with was greater knowledge about other brownfield opportunities across the region. The property owners acknowledged that they developed a deeper understanding of the types of information developers needed to know about a brownfield property. Further, property owners gained keen insights into how to market their communities to a wider developer audience.

Evaluations from the event suggest that several connections have been made, and all acknowledged the benefits from the resource center.

As Sarah Coffin with St. Louis University said, “The model is simple, but it appears to be working. Bring property owners and developers together, provide them with information and access to resources, and brownfield transactions will happen.”