Many of New York's communities are dotted with vacant and abandoned industrial sites and older and historic buildings, that are often no longer in use. Abandoned sites and buildings can have a destabilizing effect on neighborhoods, lowering property values, and precipitating further disinvestment by property owners who fear that improvements to their home or business may not pay off if the neighborhood continues to decline. But in a growing number of cases, people with a vision are transforming these sites and buildings into cost-effective spaces for new uses, turning once derelict areas into new, vibrant destinations. These projects are producing jobs, stimulating private and public investment, providing attractive spaces for new uses, and creating destinations that draw residents, visitors and new business activity to downtowns and neighborhoods.

If you have identified abandoned buildings in your community, the Division of Coastal Resources guidebook "Opportunities Waiting to Happen: A Guidebook for Redeveloping Abandoned Buildings and Sites to Revitalize Communities" can help you. This guidebook describes the development process, techniques and resources available to redevelop abandoned buildings. It begins with developing a vision for your building and finishes with a step by step guide to project implementation. Each of the sections provides guidance and lessons on how to make opportunities happen.

If you have identified abandoned sites in your community, you have probably realized that these sites, offer great redevelopment opportunities. Known as "brownfields," these sites are typically abandoned or underused industrial or commercial properties where expansion or redevelopment is complicated by real or perceived environmental contamination. They are former properties where operations may have resulted in environmental contamination.

If you think your site might be a brownfield, New York State can help you with technical and funding assistance. The Department of Environmental Conservation has produced a series of fact sheets on remediation, and a brownfields manual that provides assistance to municipalities and the private sector in the redevelopment of brownfield sites.

The Brownfields Opportunity Area Program (BOA), administered by the Department of State in partnership with the Department of Environmental Conservation, provides communities and qualified community based organizations with assistance to complete area-wide brownfields redevelopment planning. Through the Brownfields Opportunity Area Program, communities will have opportunities to address a range of problems posed by multiple brownfield sites and to establish the multi-agency and private-sector partnerships necessary to leverage assistance and investments to revitalize communities by returning idle areas back to productive use and restoring environmental quality.

The United States Environmental Protection Agency (USEPA) Brownfields Program provides assistance to link environmental protection with economic and community revitalization. USEPA also participates in the Brownfields Environmental Development Initiative (BEDI) in partnership with the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development.