Region overview
From Boston to Bath, Kennebunkport to Keene, from Burlington to Brewer, development activities are occurring in the Northeast region along the brown and green spectrum that's making a lot of observers both inside and outside the region take notice.

Start in Brewer, Me. where a former paper mill has been parlayed into a modular fabrication facility for Maine-based Cianbro Corp. The former Eastern Fine Paper had gone bankrupt. In 2004, the city assumed the property and carried out the requisite environmental obligations. South Brewer Redevelopment LLC was established to take over as owner, pursuing environmental assessments, funding and developers all at the same time.

The redevelopment arm wanted the right developer, but they went about it in a quantitative way—engaging as many developers as possible. The vast majority of the developers said that they saw very little potential for the former paper mill to be spun into a successful redevelopment, said D'arcy Main-Boyington, Director of Economic Development for the city of Brewer and managing director of South Brewer Redevelopment LLC , who added that the goal for Eastern Fine was originally modest—to simply return the property to the tax rolls.

Eastern Fine is emblematic of the spirit of Maine redevelopment, said Jean Firth, Brownfields Coordinator in the Bureau of Remediation & Waste Management, Augusta, Me. When asked to summarize a trend that best represents Maine land revitalization, Firth said the state has been able to capitalize on a great deal of smaller, modest-sized projects—many positioned along Maine's intricate and abundant river system. These projects are largely mixed-use with an emphasis on residential housing.

"Waterway redevelopment with easy public access has been prevalent. We've had a significant number of smaller abandoned gasoline stations that have been redeveloped," said Firth. "Our state is looking at more rail redevelopment opportunities as well, and some sites are being developed in conjunction with that" She added that renewable energy projects with an accent on wind generation has been one emerging opportunity, more so than in Massachusetts where renewable projects predicated on solar energy have been in abundance.

In New Hampshire, H. Keith DuBois, Brownfields Program Coordinator, New Hampshire Dept. of Environmental Services (NHDES), said that "in the past we have focused our financial resources on Brownfield assessment. As we move forward in 2010 we will be focusing much of our financial resources on Brownfield remediation. This is possible due to the great success of our regional planning commissions in obtaining EPA Brownfields Assessment Grants."

"Much of our program's success is due to the work of my predecessor, Mike Wimsatt, and our dedicated Brownfields team. This is a group of hardworking professional men and women who never lose sight of the goal," said DuBois.

In Rhode Island, since 1995 when the enabling legislation was passed, more than 767 acres of contaminated property have been restored, and more than $72 million worth of property has been brought back on the tax rolls. More than 958 workers are employed in the restored properties and 73 legal agreements on liability protection have been reached.

In Massachusetts, the aforementioned solar energy systems could grow in a big way this year. New state incentives and regulations are making it possible for the construction of large solar "farms" on tracts of land or very large rooftops, a scale familiar to neighboring states but rare in Massachusetts.

Local developers have already proposed construction of at least 10 megawatts of solar—enough to power 10,000 houses—in a handful of projects, and solar installers across the state are talking with commercial building owners about large systems on rooftops that could add several more megawatts. If these projects, ranging in size from 500 kilowatts to 2 megawatts, are successful they would dwarf the size of Brockton Brightfields, a 425-kilowatt solar farm constructed on a city-owned brownfield and currently the largest solar system in the state.