Real Estate Transactions Attorney in Minneapolis, Minnesota

Common Environmental Construction Issues in MN

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What – where they come up most often – environmental issues come up – for me is at the purchase and sale of property. There are environmental reports called “phase one,” “phase two,” “phase three.” And a phase one is a – looking at a property generally. And very often, most of the time, you look at a property in a phase one and it’s fine.

But if there’s an indication of a problem, then you’ve got to go to the next level. And that may dramatically change the deal. I had a deal in the Midway area where we had a phase one problem; we went and looked at aerial photographs, and we found an aerial photograph from 1942, and there was a guy on top of a bulldozer chugging along over the barrels, and just covering up the barrels. And the next year, we had asphalt over it until the 1990s, when we went to develop the property.

So, that obviously, then, dramatically changed the deal. That due diligence upfront – of getting the phase one and phase two, and not putting your head in the ground, excuse the pun – is the difference between a good day and a bad day and a really bad day for the buyer. So, I really recommend – it’s that diligence, as much as anything else, that really matters.

Minneapolis business attorney Stephen Yoch of Felhaber Larson discusses environmental challenges construction companies face in Minnesota.

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