DENVER—A new firm has opened its doors in Denver, specializing in urban infill and redevelopment. RE | Solutions, LLC (RES) is a joint venture between Stuart Miner and Mary Hashem, two of the most widely-known and respected experts in redevelopment of urban infill and brownfield properties in the United States. The firm officially began operation in May and the founders expect it to quickly become a national industry leader thanks to their unrivaled expertise and extensive relationship network.
“RES has decades of experience in resolving the transactional and development challenges posed by environmentally impaired properties,” said Hashem, co-founder and principal at RES. “There isn't a lot of competition in this space because to do it right requires a comprehensive and deep understanding of technical approaches, regulatory requirements, and risk management options for these types of sites, layered over real estate development and finance considerations. It requires a lot of specialization and know-how in a range of disciplines that can only be obtained through experience. I don't want to brag, but frankly, no one has more breadth and depth of experience than we do.”
Both of RES' founders bring with them sterling reputations within the brownfield industry. The two have been a team for more than a decade, having previously founded Brownfield Partners in 2003. That firm managed many successful projects, both large and small, leading to it being acquired by EnviroFinance Group, LLC (EFG) in January 2011. As part of that deal, Miner and Hashem were appointed to senior leadership roles at EFG, responsible for the management, compliance and project execution of large-scale projects from coast to coast. However, the pair's entrepreneurial spirits eventually drew them back to the start-up environment, resulting in the creation of RE | Solutions.
“What makes us different is our track record of success with typically difficult and often extremely complex brownfield projects,” said Miner, RES' co-founder and also a principal at RES. “In addition to the environmental impairment, these projects are frequently faced with financial challenges, bankruptcy or foreclosure situations, or any number of blighted conditions. We are dedicated to overcoming these challenges through creative problem solving, informed by our experience with sites of all sorts across the country. Through our work, we create value for our team as well as the local community, which will be revitalized by these projects for many years to come.”
Urban infill development is one of the hottest subsets of the real estate development industry at the moment due to skyrocketing demand for residential, retail and commercial use space in cities across the country, the firm says. Challenges arise when extensive cleanup is required, particularly when contamination is discovered in the middle of a transaction.
“Cleaning up a property may sound simple, but it isn't,” Hashem said. “Our background in environmental insurance and risk management couples with our knowledge of how to clean up sites, coordinate cleanup activities with site development, manage schedule and control costs so that we can deliver a successful project where most others could not. We know how to make all the pieces fit together effectively and smoothly, ensuring successful, profitable projects time and time again.”
RE | Solutions is poised to become one of the nation's leading firms in the brownfield redevelopment space. The company plans to acquire and develop property for its own account and provide limited expert advisory services to other developers, and to public agencies and non-profit institutions in the brownfields space.
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David Phillips
David Phillips is a Chicago-based freelance writer and consultant with more than 20 years experience in business and community news. He also has extensive reporting experience in the food manufacturing industry for national trade publications.
