Commercial Real Estate developers are notoriously impatient. The following story is about a Site Remediation Program (SRP) nightmare we are currently working through. Buying a Contaminated Property in Chicago, Illinois We were contacted by a commercial real estate developer who had purchased a former plating facility in a great location to build their next development.

We’ve learned a few things in the environmental consulting business. We’d like to share them with you. Table Of Contents Who Pays For The Phase 1 ESA? How Long Is A Phase 1 ESA Good For? How Much Does A Phase 1 ESA Cost? How Long Will A Phase 1 ESA Take To Complete? Does

The Small Business Administration (SBA) has very specific environmental due diligence procedures which can be confusing. To sort it all out for you, A3 Environmental Consulting built this infographic SBA Environmental flow chart. Depending on the type of loan you are applying for and the use of the property you are buying, you can determine

The elusive SBA Environmental Questionnaire Form. Your first question is why is it so hard to find? It would be awfully nice if the Small Business Administration provided this in an easy format. They don’t. But not to worry, we’re going to cover it every way possible here. SBA Environmental Questionnaire, what is it and

Before you spend a fortune on Environmental Due Diligence, First Search an Environmental Database to see what you are getting into. Working at A3E Consultants for as long as I have, I have come to realize that not every problem needs the most expensive solution to solve it. You can take a more nuanced approach.

IEPA CCDD LPC-667 Download (PDF) Click Here! This is a blank Illinois Environmental Protection Agency (IEPA) Clean Construction Demolition Debris (CCDD) form LPC-667 in editable PDF format. If what you’d like to dump at a CCDD facility is “Painted CCDD” which is uncontaminated broken concrete without protruding metal bars, bricks, rock, stone, or reclaimed or

IEPA CCDD LPC-663 Download (PDF) Click Here! This is a blank Illinois Environmental Protection Agency (IEPA) Clean Construction Demolition Debris (CCDD) form LPC-663 in editable PDF format. A3 Environmental Consultants wants you to have this in the event you have soil you need to dispose of. The CCDD facility is going to need your paperwork

IEPA CCDD LPC-662 Download (PDF) Click Here! This is a blank Illinois Environmental Protection Agency (IEPA) Clean Construction Demolition Debris (CCDD) form LPC-662 in editable PDF format. A3 Environmental Consultants wants you to have this in the event you have soil you need to dispose of. The CCDD facility is going to need your paperwork

Do you find yourself asking where you can dump clean fill dirt near your project? A3 Environmental Consultants is here to help. We found ourselves wondering the same thing for the projects we work on. We built this map to help find the closest facilities. First thing to notice, this is only good for Illinois

Vapor Intrusion is the ability for volatile organic compounds to migrate from contamination in soil or groundwater through porous building foundations into areas of habitation, causing risks to health and human safety by inhalation of indoor air. The contamination occupies the void space between particles in the soil as a vapor. The vapor is known

NFR means “No Further Remediation”. It’s a letter given to a landowner of an environmentally contaminated property stating that the property currently meets environmental standards set forth by the state. Depending on the state you are in the letter may be called a NFA letter, for “No Further Action”. This does not mean the property

You’ve asked the internet what the best environmental engineering firms are in Chicagoland and the internet delivered you to the website of A3 Environmental Consultants. Full disclosure, we’re not environmental engineers, we’re environmental consultants. My first question for you, is do you know the difference? Are you sure you need an environmental engineer? Unless you’re

SRP is the industry abbreviation in Illinois for “Site Remediation Program” which refers to a body of law and regulation pertaining to contaminated properties. It describes a regulatory program where a landowner can voluntarily investigate and/or remediate their property to receive a NFR (No Further Remediation) letter. The Illinois EPA is authorized to issue No

You’ve asked the internet what the best environmental cleanup companies are in Northern Illinois and the internet delivered you to the website of A3 Environmental Consultants. Full disclosure, we’re environmental consultants. My first question for you, is what kind of environmental cleanup are we talking about? In order to give you the best advice, I

You’ve asked the internet what the best environmental engineering companies are in Chicago and the internet delivered you to the website of A3 Environmental Consultants. Full disclosure, we’re not environmental engineers, we’re environmental consultants. My first question for you, is do you know the difference? Are you sure you need an environmental engineer? Unless you’re

A Phase 2 Environmental Site Assessment (ESA) is the second step of investigation into whether a property has environmental contamination of some kind. A Phase 2 ESA reflects the suspicion of an environmental consultant that contamination exists based on a Phase 1 ESA. While completing the Phase 2 ESA, the consultant will confirm or exclude

You’re here because you need a SBA Environmental Reliance Letter. You most likely just had a Phase 1 Environmental Site Assessment done and now you’re submitting it to the Small Business Administration (SBA) for approval. You also work for a bank or other financial lending institution and you don’t do this very much. If you

As with all things, prices may vary based on many factors but here at A3E our Phase 1 Environmental cost vary around $1900. But read on because there’s a lot that goes into the pricing of a Phase 1 ESA. Table Of Contents How Risky Is the Target? How Far Is The Project? How Extensive

You’ve asked the google-tubes who the best environmental consulting firms are in Chicago and it delivers you to A3 Environmental Consultants corporate marketing posts. You’re probably thinking, you’re in for some completely biased information. To be clear from the outset, I think A3E is pretty amazing but I’m going to do my best at guiding

An EDR Report is an Environmental Database Report which costs $150 and is completed in 24 hours in most cases. To be fair, “EDR” is also a company which creates these EDR Reports. When A3 Environmental Consultants prepares these reports we use a data provider called ERIS who’s data we believe is better than EDR.

A desktop risk assessment is an environmental database report (EDR) where the scientist who is performing the report doesn’t leave her desk. So much of what we do involves sampling, testing and site visits. It makes the distinction between “desktop” work and “field” work that much more poignant. Desktop risk assessments are done by computer

Due Diligence Period is a legal contract timeframe in which a buyer can inspect a property to determine if a transaction is worth the price being paid. When purchasing really expensive assets there is a lot of things that are unknown to the buyer while the buyer is still prospective. The seller doesn’t disclose everything

What is a brownfield? It’s an urban or suburban site which had a former use such as housing or a factory. Very often, these sites are diminished in value and sit fallow for years because of real or imagined contamination at the site. There are more brownfield sites than you think. Think of any corner

Here at A3 Environmental Consultants, we’ve found the general public doesn’t know much about what we do and has more than a few preconceived notions. This post is about some of the the things we’ve come across which people frequently didn’t know. Environmental Remediation: Once soil is contaminated, there’s no cleaning it. No matter what

CCDD stands for Clean Construction Demolition Debris. Similarly, USF is an abbreviation for Uncontaminated Soil Fill. In Illinois both of these terms are used interchangeably as “Clean Fill”. Both of these terms refer to a body of laws unique to Illinois whereby clean materials can be put into old gravel, sand or limestone mines. These

MAC stands for Maximum Allowable Concentration. It refers to the maximum allowable levels of contamination in clean fill (CCDD). CCDD stands for Clean Construction Demolition Debris and is a body of laws from the IEPA (Illinois EPA) that regulate clean fill operations in Illinois. Only the State of Illinois has CCDD regulations so if you’re

You’re probably wondering how you’ve lived so long on this planet without ever knowing how Illinois landfill pricing works. Settle down nerd. I’m not going to answer every question you have, just give you a slightly better understanding. This article is designed for regular people, new environmental consultants and trucking companies that haul clean fill,

As an environmental consultant, we’re frequently asked for advice that veers out of our lane and into what environmental lawyers do best. While I’ve never meet or talked to the good people over at Spencer Fane, they seem to have some pretty good, concise, advice about environmental law. The following is gleaned from their website,

I thought this article was great information that most people in a property transaction never hear about. You can read the whole thing by clicking here. Lenders, borrowers, purchasers, sellers, and even contractors sometimes get annoyed with environmental lawyers when we insist on reviewing Phase I Environmental Site Assessment (ESA) draft reports, looking at the

You have (or think you have) a leaking underground storage tank (UST). Maybe you’re about to buy or sell a property. Either way, you know it’s going to be a problem. The government doesn’t like underground tanks, it especially doesn’t like them leaking and it gets twitchy if the tank isn’t being currently used for

The information below represents a EULA, End User License Agreement regarding A3 Environmental Consultants services. You can download this as a PDF document by clicking here. Estimated Fees Unless the Scope of Work provides otherwise, the Estimated Fees contained therein constitute A3 Environmental’s estimate of the probable cost required to complete the proposed Project. The

Before we start we should get on the same page about why environmental consultants are hired by commercial lenders to begin with. An Environmental Consultant’s job is to limit downside risk on a commercial loan. Too often lending institutions business practices encourage environmental consultants to raise costs, increase environmental risk, or both. How can this

The ESA Questionnaire is an important part of an ASTM 1527-13 Phase 1 ESA. A3E wants to help Freelance Environmental Consultants to do more work, faster and ultimately get paid more. Why? Because we’ve been there, done that. Let’s work together!

Phase 1 Environmental Site Assessment Checklist for Freelance Environmental Consultants. Download.

Everyone needs to start somewhere. Commercial investors are no different. Sometimes a commercial building is bought by a business owner because they need it for operations. Other times the commercial investors are buying the property to become a landlord. The building is inventory for potential renters. What do commercial investors need to know? If Your

Before we start we should get on the same page as to what constitutes a “bad” environmental report. You might think bad is the same as saying that your environmental consultant found a Recognized Environmental Condition (REC). A REC generally means issues for buyers, sellers, and lenders while casting a shadow over the transaction. This

Commercial Real Estate Professionals don’t typically hire environmental consultants themselves, but as a trusted professional, they can influence the buyer on who gets used. CRE Pros know they get paid when a property closes. In reality, they get paid IF a property closes. That’s why managing the process after the contract is signed and on

For many people, purchasing a commercial property is a once-in-a-lifetime event. It’s not surprising that most don’t know the terminology. There’s no such thing as a “Level One Environmental”. It’s called a “Phase 1 Environmental Site Assessment”. This post is dedicated to all the ways people get their terminology understandably wrong. It makes it difficult

To answer the question of which is better, the Environmental Desktop Report (EDR) or the Record Search with Risk Assessment (RSRA) you must first know what each is. Environmental Desktop Report (EDR) This is a light form of environmental due diligence done by an environmental consultant to determine quickly what kind environmental risk is

RSRA is the abbreviation for Record Search with Risk Assessment (RSRA). It was developed by the Small Business Administration (SBA) as a less expensive form of environmental due diligence when applying for SBA backed commercial loans. With a price-point of less than half the cost of a Phase 1 ESA, these environmental reports lowered the

There are three phases for environmental investigations, conveniently called Phase I, II and III. Phase I Environmental Assessment: Phase I is an environmental audit. It starts with a database and historical record search. We request data from the city and fire department and an environmental professional walks through the site looking for past, present or

Environmental Database Reports (EDR Reports) are low cost, high level data regarding the environmental risks affecting a target property. They are sometimes called Desktop Assessments, Desktop Due Diligence or Desktop Environmental Reports. The desktop refers to the fact that an environmental consultant does not visit the subject property like they do in a Phase I

The organization that established guidelines for the Phase 1 Environmental Study is the American Society of Testing and Materials (ASTM). They aren’t guidelines so much as they are a standard way of conducting a Phase 1 ESA. In much the same way as accounting has Generally Accepted Accounting Principles (GAAP) and manufacturing has the International

Phase 1 Environmental Inspections are performed by environmental professional who is trained to find past, present or future threats of environmental contamination walks through a property and inspects for environmental risks as part of the scope of work of a Phase I ESA. Phase 1 ESAs are done by environmental consulting companies, and environmental professionals

When buying commercial real estate everyone knows about Phase 1 Environmental Reports. The Phase 1 ESA is the gold standard when it comes to environmental due diligence. Most investors don’t know that there are other options, less expensive options that are often better choices for determining environmental risk based on constraints of money and time.