What Do Brownfields Look Like?
Brownfields come in many sizes, shapes and involving many obstacles to redevelopment, including varying degrees of environmental contamination. Common types that we see everyday or are generally classified as potential brownfields include abandoned gas stations, old dry cleaning operations and vacant factories from our industrial past. But there are other properties that can be classified as brownfields such as old and vacant office buildings, warehouses as well as commercial operations that line many of our old commercial corridors of the city. Many of these lesser known brownfield properties may contain contaminants such as asbestos, lead paint as well as other hazardous chemicals that were used as part of normal business operations that must now be cleaned up as these properties are redeveloped. The following photographs depict several different types of properties that may be classified as brownfields. A former manufacturing operation sits idle for decades on the St. Louis Waterfro
