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— Specialty · Brownfield & Remediation

Adaptive reuse and environmentally complex redevelopment where most brokerages walk away.

A contaminated site is not a problem. It is a problem priced into the land. The brokerage that understands the remediation scope, the regulatory pathway, and the redevelopment thesis can clear the deal at a price that works for both sides. Most brokerages cannot.

— Practice Thesis

How we work in brownfield & remediation.

Hamilton, Sault Ste. Marie, Sarnia, and the Windsor-Essex chemical corridor have inventories of post-industrial sites that have been quietly trading among a small group of remediation specialists for thirty years. The buyer pool is small. The required diligence is unusual. The reward, when the redevelopment thesis works, is meaningfully outsized.

Our practice runs both sale-side and acquisition-side brownfield mandates. On sale-side we typically work with industrial legacy owners — pension funds, family offices, and corporate divestiture programs — who hold post-industrial sites and need a clearing transaction. On acquisition-side we work with redevelopment-focused buyers who target specific submarkets for thesis-driven assembly.

The work requires comfort with Phase II environmental assessments, Record of Site Condition filings, risk assessment vs. clean-closure trade-offs, and the increasingly important question of climate adaptation overlay (flood plain shifts, brownfield-to-stormwater conversions). We are not environmental consultants. We are brokers who can speak the language of the environmental consultants on the call.

— Market Intelligence

The numbers that actually matter.

Estimated Brownfield Inventory (Ontario)
5,500+
Sites in MECP registry
Typical Remediation Range
$5-80/sf
Light commercial to heavy industrial
Provincial Grant Programs
$200M+
Active brownfield incentive funding
Avg. Redevelopment Timeline
3-7 yr
Acquisition to occupancy
— Currently Marketing

Active mandates in this practice.

No active mandates in this practice at the moment. Discreet inquiries always welcome.
— Common Questions

What clients ask us.

What kinds of brownfield mandates do you take?
Post-industrial sites with documented contamination but defined redevelopment thesis — typically residential, mixed-use, logistics, or solar. We also work petroleum-impacted sites (former gas stations and bulk fuel sites) where the remediation pathway is well-understood and the buyer pool exists.
How do you price a contaminated site?
Land value at end-use highest-and-best, less the remediation cost estimate, less a risk premium for unknown contamination, less the time value of money during remediation. The remediation cost estimate comes from a qualified consultant — not from us — but our pricing process is built around translating that estimate into market-clearing terms.
Do you handle Record of Site Condition (RSC) filings?
No. RSC filings are filed by qualified persons (Q.P.s) — typically environmental consultants. We coordinate with the Q.P., understand the implications of the RSC for marketability, and structure transactions around the filing timeline. We are brokers, not Q.P.s.
What about climate adaptation and flood plain shifts?
Increasingly relevant for brownfield redevelopment in the Greater Golden Horseshoe. Several former industrial sites along the Don Valley and lower Don corridor are now subject to revised flood-plain mapping that materially changes redevelopment economics. We track this and price it.
Do you work outside Ontario?
For brownfield, primarily Ontario and Alberta — both provinces have established regulatory frameworks (MECP and AER respectively) that make remediation timelines and costs predictable. Quebec and BC brownfield work goes through specialty partners.
Discreet by default

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