Real Estate Recycling and Reuse

New Life for Old Buildings

Vacant buildings are often seen as signs of economic distress in a community.  To NDC, they represent opportunities.  Obsolete or surplus buildings can be recycled, restoring jobs and economic activity to what might otherwise be a wasted or neglected resource.  Many communities have this kind of property, which is frequently the result of corporate downsizing or moves to other locations. 

NDC has a long history of helping communities recycle such vacant or partially occupied real estate.  Using tax benefits provided by the Internal Revenue Code, NDC has acquired underutilized properties from corporate (and individual) owners and reconveyed or redeveloped them so that they are once again contributing to the local economy.

NDC is known in the private sector for its expertise in these transactions - in understanding both the needs and concerns of the communities in which the property is located and the needs and concerns of the private sector owners in what is a highly specialized real estate transaction.

As real estate developers, we also bring an understanding of the complicated processes involved in redeveloping older sites, including those with significant environmental impairment.  It is this expertise which has brought dozens of major corporate properties to us from owners such as Chrysler, Colgate Palmolive, York International, Akzo Nobel, General Motors, Berkshire Hathaway and many others.  The real estate involved in these transactions has ranged in value from $250,000 to $20 million.

Selected NDC Recycling Projects

• A neglected landmark movie theater in the City of Easton, Pennsylvania, became a vibrant performing arts center when NDC acquired it from United Artists and worked with a community arts group to restore it to an important place in Easton’s downtown.
• An Eastman Kodak facility in Rensselaer, New York, had employed more than 1,000 people before it was closed.  NDC acquired the entire complex of manufacturing, research, office and distribution buildings and worked with new owners, who renovated them for reuse, returning jobs and economic viability to the site.
• A 452-acre site in Lexington, Kentucky, mostly farmland with some small manufacturing and storage buildings, was donated to NDC by R.J. Reynolds.  After a comprehensive planning process, NDC implemented a development program that blended commercial, residential and institutional uses with recreational and green space for the public.  The land is now on the city’s tax rolls, with uses that generate both jobs and increase revenue for the region.
• A former Levi Strauss clothing factory in Roswell, New Mexico, was acquired by NDC.  A local company then converted it for use as a candy factory, making sweets that are sold throughout the U.S. and abroad.
• A shuttered distribution warehouse of the Pillowtex Corporation near Cincinnati, Ohio, was conveyed to NDC.  It has now been redeveloped by a local developer, housing several manufacturing companies with a total employment level higher than it was in its previous use.
• An obsolete building in Longview, Texas, once a Kroger super market, was acquired by NDC for redevelopment.  It was converted by a local developer into a multi-tenant manufacturing and distribution center.
• A manufacturing facility in Berkeley, California, vacated by Colgate-Palmolive, was acquired by NDC from Colgate.  Working with a local developer, we recycled the facility, restoring employment and maintaining the site’s tax base.

These transactions have been repeated in many other locations throughout the country and have included the recycling of a broad range of property types in addition to the ones cited above:  unimproved land, breweries, factories, shipyards, department stores, banks, shuttered power plants, office buildings, warehouses, shopping centers and textile mills.