Site Analysis for Vacant Property Reuse
IN THIS SECTION
Before determining the best reuse for a vacant building or lot, communities need a clear-eyed understanding of both the property itself and its surrounding neighborhood context. A use may be appropriate for a neighborhood but unworkable on a particular property. Conversely, a property may be well-suited for a specific use that the local market can’t yet support. Effective site analysis resolves these questions before you make reuse decisions.
Good site analysis starts with assembling quality data on your vacant properties—where they’re located, who owns them, and what condition they’re in. Gather and maintain property-specific information in an accessible, user-friendly database so that each time a parcel is evaluated, staff aren’t starting from scratch in the field or hunting through documents.
Traditional site analysis tends to focus heavily on physical features and less on site context, legal issues, or financial feasibility. That approach may work for greenfield development, but it falls short in urban reuse settings where public sector professionals are making decisions on behalf of the community. A complete site analysis must address all three dimensions:
Table: What to Consider When Analyzing A Vacant Property for Potential Reuse
| Elements | Key Questions |
|---|---|
| Physical and Environmental Characteristics | |
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| Context/Adjacent Properties | |
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| Legal and Financial Issues | |
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Source: Alan Mallach, Center for Community Progress.
Underlying all reuse decisions should be one guiding question: Will this make the community and neighborhood a better place not just physically, but socially and economically?
Evaluating a Vacant Property’s Physical Features
Physical analysis identifies the opportunities and constraints a property presents, helping to rule out incompatible uses and surface promising ones. Key issues and opportunities for each physical condition area are detailed in the physical features checklist below.
Physical Site Characteristics: Elements, Descriptions, and Key Considerations
| Element | Description | Key Issues |
|---|---|---|
| Hydrology | Presence and impact of surface or subsurface water, or water flows through site. | Water features may constrain development but may also create opportunities, such as wetlands restoration or stream daylighting. |
| Plant Growth | Amount and type of plant growth on site. | Mature trees or other plant features may be treated as attractive site features under some reuse options, or may constrain or prevent some options. |
| Topography | Variations in grade on site, including steepness of slopes. | Topography can be an amenity because of views and opportunity to create interesting development configurations, but may be a constraint on or prevent some reuse options. |
| Natural Constraints | Other features, such as flood plain, presence of wetlands or wetland vegetation, habitats, etc. | Water bodies can constrain physical development options, or can be treated as attractive site features depending on their location and the flood plain’s. |
| Environmental Contamination | Evidence or possibility of environmental contamination on the site, either from prior uses or ambient conditions. | If possibility of contamination exists, it is critically important to determine its presence and the extent to which remediation may be needed and the potential costs involved before committing to a reuse. |
| Subsurface Conditions | Evidence of conditions, such as buried demolition debris, unstable fill, pipes, or tanks, affecting potential use. | If possibility of adverse subsurface conditions exists, it is critically important to determine its presence and the extent to which remediation may be needed and the potential costs involved before committing to a reuse. |
| Area, Dimensions, and Configuration (shape) | Size/dimensions of property boundaries, and shape of property—particularly unusual site configurations that may affect reuse options. | Size, dimensions, and configuration of property all affect proposed reuse. This analysis should be done in concert with an assessment of adjacent properties to determine opportunities for combining and assembling sites. |
| Street/Sidewalk Frontage and Condition | Frontage on streets and alleys, presence of sidewalks along property frontage, and condition of streets, alleys, and sidewalks. | Presence or absence of sidewalks, width and condition of street, whether an alley exists to the rear of the property, and similar features can affect reuse options and design possibilities. |
Source: Alan Mallach, Center for Community Progress.
Evaluating Environmental and Subsurface Conditions
Vacant properties in older communities share a defining characteristic: Almost all are formerly developed sites, carrying the residues of past use. This means environmental contamination and problematic subsurface conditions are common.
Often these are referred to as brownfield properties, or “brownfields.” The presence or potential presence of a hazardous substance, pollutant, or contaminant makes redeveloping them challenging and costly. The problem is not limited to abandoned industrial properties (e.g., coal mines, power plants, transportation facilities) but also to small-scale commercial businesses that used hazardous substances (e.g., dry cleaners, gas stations) and residential buildings contaminated with lead paint and asbestos.
These conditions present additional challenges, which can be addressed—at a cost. The best route a community can take to address their brownfields is to remove risk related to environmental cleanup liability. This includes performing due diligence and site investigations (i.e., drilling, collecting samples, doing laboratory analysis) to eliminate uncertainties about the presence and type of contamination, if any. The EPA’s Technical Assistance for Brownfield Communities Program is an excellent resource for communities starting to address brownfield challenges. Once the community knows the extent of contamination, if any, they can plan and implement cleanup and redevelopment, priming the property for future reuse. Another resource is the EPA’s Land Revitalization Technical Assistance support, which helps communities with the early-stage planning work around brownfields. Communities with land banks can leverage their land bank’s unique powers to help with brownfield remediation and redevelopment.
Evaluating a Vacant Property’s Context
A vacant property does not exist in isolation. Reuse decisions should benefit the surrounding area, which means understanding what’s happening around the property is just as important as understanding the property itself. Analyzing the surroundings helps identify which uses and design approaches will strengthen the neighborhood, what should be avoided, and where opportunities may exist to link a project to others nearby—such as assembling multiple vacant parcels into a larger, more impactful site.
Property Context and Location Factors: Elements, Descriptions, and Key Considerations
| Element | Description | Key Issues |
|---|---|---|
| Utility Service | Availability and condition of utilities, including sewer, water, electric, and gas service. | Most urban properties have all utilities available but in some cases systems may need repair or upgrading in order to suit certain uses. |
| Transit Service | Location relative to bus and rail transit service. | Close proximity of rail or bus service is a key asset for many uses. |
| Other Assets and Amenities | Location relative to amenities such as greenways, parks, schools, arts/cultural facilities. | Proximity to high quality amenities are a major property asset. |
| Employment Centers or Retail Corridors | Location relative to employment centers or retail facilities such as grocery stores, child care, pharmacies, etc. | Immediate proximity to retail amenities or employment centers is a major property asset. |
| Assembly Opportunities | Number and location of contiguous or proximate vacant or underutilized parcels. | Depending on the ideal use for the property, it may be desirable to hold off reuse until adjacent properties have been acquired and integrated into a single property or project. |
| Adjacent Land Uses and Design Characteristics | Use, siting, and design features of adjacent and nearby properties (typically those properties on facing sides of the same block). | Understanding the nature of the use, design, and siting of the properties on the same block is essential to being able to establish ground rules for reuse of a property. This is particularly important where the block has a distinctive architectural or historic character. |
| Condition and Value of Adjacent Properties | Market value and condition, including identifying presence of abandoned or substandard properties. | Understanding the market strength of the immediate area is important to evaluating reuse options. If there are abandoned or seriously deteriorated buildings on the same block, it may be important to develop plans for their reuse or demolition in tandem with reuse of the property under consideration. |
| Condition and Appearance of Public Realm | Condition and appearance of street, sidewalks, shade trees, front yards and fences, and other features of block visible from public right of way. | These features affect marketability of reuse options. If there are visible problems, it may be important to develop plans to improve those features in tandem with property reuse plans. |
Source: Alan Mallach, Center for Community Progress.
Determining Which Visual and Architectural Characteristics Will Fit a Neighborhood
A neighborhood’s texture is an important part of what defines a neighborhood’s culture and future revitalization potential. Considering “adjacent land uses and design characteristics” in the checklist above means ensuring that, if a block has a clearly defined visual character, that new buildings or land reuses fit into and enhance that character.
Consider developing a design guide that analyzes existing features and provides guidelines for how new construction should be sited and designed. Whether or not a formal guide exists, strong design review procedures should be in place for all infill development to ensure new buildings strengthen the neighborhood’s texture rather than detract from it.
Identifying Opportunities to Assemble Multiple Vacant Parcels
In older communities, individual parcels are often very small—25 x 100 feet or less—and many reuse options simply aren’t feasible at that scale. Consolidating multiple parcels into a single larger site (i.e., “site assembly”) can significantly expand viable reuse options and increase the impact of revitalization efforts.
Pursuing site assembly takes time and upfront investment, so it’s worth carefully evaluating whether consolidation would meaningfully add value before committing to it. In some cases, individual lot-by-lot reuse is equally effective; in others, assembly is essential.
- Read about how the Cuyahoga Land Bank facilitated site assembly in a Cleveland neighborhood to make a community-led urban farm, community resource hub, and gathering space possible.
In practice, identifying assembly opportunities can be harder than it sounds. Public property is often held by multiple agencies with separate databases, different governing policies, and competing priorities. Many communities also lack comprehensive, integrated data on occupancy, condition, ownership, tax delinquency, and zoning. Bringing that information together in a data platform is a necessary first step.
Where multiple public entities hold relevant properties, effective assembly will require coordination, agreed-upon procedures, and leadership from the top. The more levels of government involved, the harder this becomes. It is nonetheless essential to resolve if a community wants to pursue a strategic, large-scale reuse effort.
This coordination challenge is one reason many communities have formed land banks. Land banks have unique powers to cost-effectively consolidate publicly held land and dispose of it efficiently in line with community goals. Given thier special powers, land banks are also uniquely positioned to help communities address brownfield properties.
