Plant Closings and Worker Displacement: The Regional Issues

Howland examines the relationship between regional employment shifts and plant closures and describes the implications of that relationship for displaced worker study. Her findings support an argument against industrial policy as a means of slowing the pace of worker dislocation as well as against concession in wages, utility bills, and taxes as strategies for retaining local jobs. Howland also presents several policy options for both national policy makers and local economic development officials, and argues for increased federal support for local takeovers of closing branch plants and subsidiaries and for financial and adjustment assistance for displaced workers.https://research.upjohn.org/up_press/1114/thumbnail.jp

Plant Closings: The Problem and Current Policy

Howland examines the relationship between regional employment shifts and plant closures and describes the implications of that relationship for displaced worker study. Her findings support an argument against industrial policy as a means of slowing the pace of worker dislocation as well as against concession in wages, utility bills, and taxes as strategies for retaining local jobs. Howland also presents several policy options for both national policy makers and local economic development officials, and argues for increased federal support for local takeovers of closing branch plants and subsidiaries and for financial and adjustment assistance for displaced workers.https://research.upjohn.org/up_press/1114/thumbnail.jp

What Makes for a Successful Brownfield Redevelopment?

This study tracks the remediation history and redevelopment on three brownfield sites in Baltimore, Maryland. The sites are Camden Crossing, Highland Marine Terminal, and Crown, Cork, and Seal. The first project, Camden Crossing, promises to turn previously industrial property into a town house development. Highland Marine Terminal and Crown, Cork, and Seal were industrial sites transformed into warehouse space. The proposed residential, Camden Crossing, project has met with continuous impediments and delays, and is now running more than eight years behind schedule. The two industry to warehouse sites can be characterized as successful, with profitable enterprises now operating on both. The factors that appear to compress risk and contribute to successful brownfield redevelopments are continuous industrial use, a strong market for the final use, and quick movement through the Phase I and Phase II testing, Maryland Department of the Environment approvals, and reuse. The continuous industrial use means that cleanup standards are not as stringent as for residential use, thereby speeding cleanup and lowering remdiation costs. Moreover, an uncertain market for the final product increases risk. For example, the warehouse market in Baltimore is much stronger than the residential market. The weak residential market in combination with stringent cleanup standards undermines the profitability of Camden Crossing. Finally, the delays in Camden Crossing have both resulted in and been further aggravated by changes in the Maryland Department of the Environment staff. Over the eight years the project has been under discussion, the Maryland Department of the Environment has revised and made cleanup standards more strict

The Legacy of Contamination and the Redevelopment of Inner-City Industrial Districts

This study examines the role that land contamination plays in hindering central city redevelopment. We tracked all sales, the selling price, existence of contamination, location, and length of time on the market in one industrial area of approximately 5,580 acres in Southwest Baltimore. The results indicate that after the mid 1990s, contaminated parcels are selling and the market has adjusted to contamination by lowering sales prices. Over the decade 45 parcels with either confirmed or historical reasons to suspect contamination sold. Interviews with owners and brokers of the parcels on the market for two years or more indicate that outdated parcel sizes, inadequate roads for modern truck access, outdated and aging infrastructure, incompatible land uses, and high asking prices are the most significant barriers to the redevelopment of industrial central city districts

Projecting Suburban Office Space Demand: Alternative Estimates of Employment in Offices

The boom-bust cycle of the 1980s highlights the need for independent, public sector estimates of office space needs. Buildings that fail to yield full property tax revenues, stand vacant and discourage development in the surrounding environment, displace jobs without creating new ones, and merely succeed in luring tenants from older buildings, have become commonplace in the real estate bust of the late 1980s and early 1990s. The purpose of this paper is to estimate office space demand and show patterns of office space usage in a suburban county. Specifically, we estimate the share of employees in freestanding offices, by empirically observing the share of industry employment in offices in 1986. We then assess the accuracy of our values and compare our results with an alternative, occupational approach. The data is drawn from Prince George's County, Maryland, a suburban county of Washington, D.C. To briefly summarize findings, our empirically based, industry-specific approach indicates there is a changing and wide variation in the share of employment in freestanding office buildings across the two-digit service industries. However, when data are aggregated across all service industries, our results generate estimates of office employment comparable to the earlier occupational approach of Kimball and Bloomberg (1987). Both approaches produce office space demand projections within 9% to 12% of actual leased space.

Architecture Library Needs Assessment Report & Recommendations

Final Report with 25 Key Findings and 25 Key Recommendations.The University Libraries and the School of Architecture, Planning, and Preservation both face pressures on limited space and budgets, the need to plan for new technologies, and to provide innovative educational experiences. There is a need to survey library patrons, examine models of cutting edge information gathering and sharing environments, as well as anticipate the needs of current and future patrons. This report looks at what technologies are available, usage trends, collections, and funding in order to remain vibrant, dynamic, and attract top students

Determinants and Effects on Property Values of Participation in Voluntary Cleanup Programs: The Case of Colorado

State Voluntary Cleanup Programs (VCPs) were established starting in the 1990s to encourage the environmental remediation and redevelopment of contaminated properties. These programs typically offer liability relief, subsidies and other regulatory incentives in exchange for site cleanup. This paper asks three questions: First, what type of properties are attracted to voluntary cleanup programs? Second, what is the interaction between these state programs and other incentives for remediation and economic development, such as Enterprise Zone and Brownfield Zone designations? Third, what is the effect of participation in the VCP on property values? We use data from Colorado’s VCP to answer these questions. We find that most of the properties enrolled in this program were not previously listed on EPA’s contaminated site registries, and that most applicants seek to obtain directly a “no further action” determination without undergoing remediation. The main determinants of participation are the size of the parcel and whether the surrounding land use is primarily residential, while other incentives have little effect. Properties with confirmed contamination sell at a 47% discount relative to comparable uncontaminated parcels, and participation tends to raise the property price, but this latter effect is not statistically significant. Taken together, these findings suggest that the participating properties are those with high development potential, and hint at the possibility that owners or developers may be seeking to obtain a clean bill of health from the State with only minimal or no cleanup efforts. Were these findings confirmed with data from other states, they would raise doubts about the effectiveness of voluntary programs in encouraging remediation and their usefulness in reversing some of the undesired effects of the Superfund legislation