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Getting You Home Safely Every Day 2015 saw the largest year-over-year percent increase in motor vehicle deaths in the past 50 years, according to the National Safety Council. Preliminary estimates show 38,300 people were killed on U.S. roads in...

The Federal government created programs under the Emergency Planning and Community Right-to-Know Act (EPCRA) that focus on environmental, health, and safety issues related to businesses that use, store, and handle hazardous and toxic chemicals. This...

On December 18th, Gov. Rick Snyder signed Senate Bill No. 556 into law, amending Michigan’s Commercial Rehabilitation Act (CRA). The CRA (P.A. 210 of 2005) had been set to expire at the end of 2015, but the amendment serves to extend the...

The Michigan Underground Storage Tank Authority (MUSTA) is now open as a means for underground storage tank owners to meet their financial responsibility requirements. Owners and operators can now chose to utilize the State’s underground...

When I first entered the field of commercial real estate consulting in the late 1990’s, construction consulting was still an informal exercise with many financial institutions relying on an inspection company or architect to visit the site and...

The project site, which included five parcels, previously housed vacant, blighted storefronts. Roofs had caved in, and a large tree was growing out of the top of one of the buildings. These and other Brownfield issues, including asbestos in the...

In 2015, a Michigan municipality discovered arsenic contamination in the soil beneath a large playscape structure located in a city park. This playscape had served the community and its children for over 20 years, but to the surprise of city...

There has been a noticeable shift in the approach and interactions of Michigan’s Department of Environmental Quality (MDEQ). A positive trend is taking hold in the Department that is enabling greater cooperation among stakeholders toward...

Michigan’s Underground Storage Tank (UST) program took a significant step forward with the passage of Public Act 416, signed by Governor Rick Snyder on December 30, 2014. The act amends Part 215 of the Natural Resources and Environmental...

Limiting significant losses related to environmental issues for banks and property owners has historically been managed by a favorable regulatory and enforcement climate, a robust real estate market, and the shelter of formal lender liability...

Over the past several years, Lenders have been rethinking their approach to environmental due diligence and risk tolerance. Do all loans require or warrant an ASTM International E-1527 Phase I Environmental Site Assessment? As a result of this...

Vapor Intrusion (VI) is a topic that is becoming more and more prevalent when conducting and evaluating the overall environmental conditions of a property. In this post we’ll attempt to answer some of the major surrounding Vapor...

California’s new energy disclosure legislation requires that owners and operators of all nonresidential buildings 10,000 square feet and above provide energy data and ratings when entering into financial transactions involving the finance,...

While reviewing the pay application is a critical aspect of the monitoring process, it is only one of the many responsibilities a commercial construction professional should undertake on behalf of the institution financing a construction...

Complex programmatic hurdles create fear and uncertainty that can become costly and time-consuming. As a result, these sites often languish, forgotten in plain view, while further hindering the process of economic and community...

While these reports do satisfy CERCLA’s “all appropriate inquiry” requirement, they don’t completely shield property owners from liability. Today we’re going to take a look at some greater liability concerns that a...

New York City has recently introduced an annual benchmarking and public disclosure of energy performance requirement for many large commercial and multi-family properties. According to a recent report by the Appraisal Institute: Various factors...

On Tuesday September 25th at the 2012 MAC Annual Conference, join community leaders, commissioners, and economic development and environmental experts for a panel discussion on strategies used at two distinctive rural sites. The workshop...