What impact will the laboratory have on home values?
The possibility of an effect on property values was evaluated by Argonne’s Environmental Assessment Division and determined to be unlikely. In general, facilities that might be viewed as potentially hazardous by the public can sometimes affect property values in one of two ways: reduced values if the facility is thought to pose a health risk, or increased values due to workers’ desire for proximity to the workplace. The impact of BSL-3 labs on surrounding property values has not been studied in depth. Therefore, to predict the effect of the Ricketts Lab on surrounding property, value trends for residential property adjacent to BSL-4 laboratories in the U.S. were evaluated. These trends suggest that construction and operation of BSL-4 laboratories in residential areas does not result in lower property values. The construction of BSL-3 labs, such as the Ricketts Lab, is similarly expected to have no effect on property values.
