RACER Trust Redevelopment Manager to Participate in Inaugural National Brownfields Leadership Summit

RACER Trust today announced that Redevelopment Manager Bruce Rasher will participate in this week’s National Brownfields Leadership Summit in Washington, D.C.

The two-day event, September 25 and 26, is presented by the Center for Creative Land Recycling (CCLR) and the National Association of Local Government Environmental Professionals (NALGEP). The summit brings together top leaders and key decision makers from across the redevelopment industry to discuss redevelopment policies, programs, and funding opportunities and interact directly with leading federal agency personnel.

Scheduled discussion topics include utilizing federal grants to implement successful redevelopment strategies; accessing Opportunity Zone and other federal tax incentives; and strategies to overcome brownfield redevelopment challenges. Steven Cook, the Deputy Assistant Administrator for the U.S. EPA Office of Land and Emergency Management, is scheduled to deliver the keynote address.

Opportunity Zones, created by the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act of 2017, are designed to spur private investment in development and job creation in certain lower-income communities. All or parts of 13 RACER Trust properties in four states are in Opportunity Zones — in Anderson and Indianapolis, Ind.; Bay City, Buena Vista Township, Flint, Pontiac, Saginaw and Van Buren Township, Mich.; Kansas City, Mo.; and Massena and Tonawanda, N.Y.

“Redevelopment and reuse that leads to new jobs, new tax base and other beneficial outcomes for communities is central to RACER Trust’s mission, and events like this keep our redevelopment team at the forefront of the policy discussions that shape this important work,” said Elliott P. Laws, of EPLET, LLC, administrative trustee of RACER Trust. “Redevelopment of impacted properties is a critical national issue, creating new investment and new opportunities in communities large and small while addressing environmental challenges and maintaining open spaces. We are pleased to contribute our expertise to these solution-focused discussions.”

Mr. Rasher joined RACER Trust as redevelopment manager when the Trust was formed in 2011. Under his leadership, the redevelopment team has closed more than 70 property transactions, resulting in pledges of more than 14,000 new jobs and $2.2 billion in new, private investment. He is the former president and CEO of the National Brownfield Association, later renamed the Association for Redevelopment Initiatives. He previously served as Vice President of CBRE., the world’s largest real estate services firm, where he was based in Detroit and managed CBRE’s North American manufacturing and brownfields specialty practice groups.