Successes

A manufacturing company responded to an urgent need for expansion by purchasing a 23-acre former chemical manufacturing facility.

• Due to the long history of the property as a chemical manufacturing facility, our first task was to review the letter of intent and draft purchase agreement to ensure that the documents provided sufficient time and access for environmental due diligence. In addition, we recommended revisions to the purchase agreement to reallocate residual risks associated with the historic use of the property.
  
  
• We helped the client satisfy its need for immediate expansion by negotiating the environmental provisions of a short-term lease that allowed for immediate use of a portion of the premises while the transaction proceeded.
  
  
• We identified a qualified environmental consulting firm to perform the purchaser's due diligence (a Phase I environmental site assessment and an extensive subsurface investigation), and to oversee the Seller's efforts to decommission the existing chemical manufacturing facility and investigate and remediate heavy metals and PCB contamination inside the building and in site soils and other media.
  
  
• We helped the client to understand the complex technical information generated by the parallel environmental investigations, and whether and how the contamination could impact the client's future use of the property.
  
  
• We assisted in preparing and finalizing baseline environmental assessments ("BEAs") and due care plans for the purchaser and the tenant, and advised the client regarding the scope and limitations of the BEA protections.
  
  

With our assistance, an out-of-state manufacturer of precision tools has expanded operations in Michigan by purchasing a manufacturing facility in the Detroit area from the bankrupt prior owner.

• After reviewing prior reports and other available information about the property, our first task was to recommend revisions to the purchase agreement to provide our client an opportunity for adequate due diligence and to balance the environmental risks associated with property.
  
  
• We worked with an environmental consultant to develop a scope of work for due diligence that balanced the need to collect enough information to evaluate the environmental risk of the purchase against the cost of the subsurface investigation.
  
  
• When due diligence revealed contamination consisting of heavy metals (including mercury), volatile organic compounds, and petroleum hydrocarbons, we worked with the client and the consultant to identify activities necessary to clean up and control the contamination to meet the client's due care obligations.
  
  
• To document the environmental condition of the property and to effectuate the protections afforded by Michigan's baseline environmental assessment ("BEA") mechanism, we helped to structure and document the client's BEA and due care plan.