Press Releases

Sovereign and RE Invest Present at Brownfields 2011

Sovereign Consulting Inc. (Sovereign), in conjunction with strategic partner RE Invest Solutions LLC (RE Invest) presented “Getting The Project Off the Ground: Funding for Initial Brownfield Development” at the US Environmental Protection Agency’s Brownfields 2011 conference held in Philadelphia, PA from April 3-5, 2011. Brad Maurer, Esq. of Sovereign served as the session moderator, with Tom Lobasso, PG, Managing Director of RE Invest functioning as the key speaker. The session’s panelists were George Vallone, President of the Hoboken Brownstone Company, Marc Guerin, Esq., Director of Real Estate Risk Services for RBS Citizens Bank, and Susan Bank, Esq., Chief Environmental Risk Policy Officer for Sovereign / Santander Bank. The discussion focused on creative ways to fund the initial stages of projects to position brownfield properties for further private investment and conventional bank funding.

The presentation highlighted how the current lending market requires a higher percentage of private equity in the early stages of a brownfield redevelopment, using a case study of a proposed healthcare campus with residential components to illustrate seller, third-party equity, lender, developer, and buyer perspectives, particularly on how to manage environmental risks if remediation is not yet complete.

The presentation is available for download here.