Turning Underused Properties Into Opportunity: How Brownfield Redevelopment Authorities Work
By Jessica Lovay, Sr. Program Manager – Community Investment
If your community is sitting on vacant lots, shuttered factories, or neglected downtown buildings, you’re not alone, and you’re not out of options.
Across Michigan, local governments are rediscovering the power of an underutilized tool: the Brownfield Redevelopment Authority (BRA). Whether you’re a municipal leader, a developer, or simply a resident who wants to see your community thrive, understanding how a BRA works could change the way you think about economic growth and housing development.
Essentially, a BRA helps take underused or contaminated properties—like old industrial sites or vacant downtown buildings—and turn them into productive spaces again by offering tools like tax increment financing to offset cleanup and redevelopment costs. That makes projects more financially feasible for developers while still supporting local tax base growth, especially when dealing with environmental challenges that might otherwise hinder investment.
Beyond financing, Michigan BRAs can also support due diligence activities like environmental assessments, demolition, and site preparation, which are often major barriers to redevelopment.
In some cases, BRAs can capture and reimburse a wide range of eligible expenses, including infrastructure improvements, site remediation, and even certain soft costs tied to redevelopment planning.
For housing, this can be a game changer, because it allows communities to bring new residential units into already-developed areas, often close to infrastructure, jobs, and services, rather than expanding outward. When used strategically, a BRA not only helps clean up blight but also supports mixed-use development, increases the local tax base over time, and creates more vibrant, livable neighborhoods.
To learn more about BRAs in the NLEA region, contact Jessica Lovay, Sr. Program Manager – Community Investment, at jess@thenlea.com
