Thursday, May 31, 2012

Phase I and Phase II Environmental Site Assessments

We've all been hearing on the news that the South Florida real estate market is beginning to pick up, and you know what that means: Bank loans. And what is one of the requirements from these institutions for commercial transactions? A Phase I Environmental Site Assessment (ESA). These are conducted on a property to protect the owner from some unknown liability that may be associated with soil and/or groundwater contamination. A Phase I Site Assessment consists of regulatory file reviews, interviews with current and previous property owners, and a site visit. We've been getting phone calls and inquiries from prospective buyers whose banks are requiring them to submit a Phase I Site Assessment report.  It's also a good idea to do an Environmental Assessment Report whether or not it is required for financing.

Sometimes the outcome of a Phase I Site Assessment may lead to a Phase II ESA which involves soil and groundwater sampling. We know quite a bit about Phase I and II Site Assessments since we've been doing them for about 15 years now. We follow the ASTM E1527-05 standard for conducting a Phase I ESA, and the recently updated ASTM E1903-11 standard for a Phase II ESA.
The South Florida office market has entered the recovery phase, which puts it ahead of the markets in Tampa, Orlando and Atlanta in the Southeast according to a recent survey from accounting giant PricewaterhouseCoopers.  For more information at http://westhorp.com/v-10293-Environmental-Site-Assessments

No comments:

Post a Comment