Real Estate Redevelopment and Reuse: An Economic Development Practitioner's Guide

摘要

The vacant buildings and lots that dot the urban landscape represent bothchallenges and opportunities. Even as developers eye vacant and older buildings for their reuse potential, there exists an enourmous surplus of industrial space in the United States, with potential negative impacts on neighborhoods. Both redevelopment and reuse involve taking underused property to a higher, more productive use, But the former refers to demolition and new construction and the latter refers to renovation and rehabilitation. The purpose of this report is twofold. First, it serves as a redevelopment/reuse guide for economic development professionals, describing (1) ways to determine viable new uses for older buildings and sites, (2) how to facilitate broad-scale re-development, and (3) where and how to obtain public funding. Second, it attempts to highlight property redevelopment/reuse in economically distressed neighborhoods. Trends were discerned through interviews and a survey of participants in 57 projects across the country, selected to represent a broad range of redevelopment/reuse options. The report emphasizes the predevelopment stage rather than construction and property management, because the role of the economic development practitioner occurs primarily during predevelopment activities.