Los Angeles-based real estate investment, management, and development firm, Cityview, specializes in developing, acquiring, and operating opportunistic and value-added multifamily projects. Cityview creates sustainable housing options in transforming areas – revitalizing obsolete urban sites that often contain environmental issues in California and other Western states by relying on their partnership with Partner’s Environmental Solutions Group to understand and manage their environmental risks, as well as develop management solutions that meld with Cityview’s unique development plans.
Matt Falley, Cityview’s General Counsel and Chief Compliance Officer, and Suzi Rosen, PG, CHg, Principal and Managing Director of Partner’s Environmental Solutions Group, recently celebrated over 10 years of working together on dozens of transactions, including both development and value add. In May 2024, they spoke on the panel for Construction Lender Risk Management Roundtable (CLRM)’s “Construction Monitoring During Environmental Cleanup” webinar.
Cityview’s and Partner’s work begins with a Phase I Environmental Site Assessment (Phase I ESA), where both teams collectively evaluate potential environmental risks related to the pending acquisition. At this early stage, Partner’s team is diving into Cityview’s long-term plan for the acquisition – whether it be redevelopment or to acquire and hold for management – and preparing a plan for managing potential environmental risk during initial due diligence.
If Recognized Environmental Conditions (RECs) are identified in the Phase I ESA, Partner will recommend a Phase II Environmental Site Investigation (Phase II) that is specifically scoped to account for Cityview’s proposed development plans. Considerations for development specifics such as at-grade usage (commercial versus residential), construction of subterranean parking, and depth to groundwater/dewatering plans, are reviewed and evaluated with respect to potential environmental impacts, both on- and nearby off-site, as they relate to the construction and development plan.
If the contaminant impacts warrant regulatory agency oversight, Partner facilitates the submission to a regulatory agency and ensures the path to regulatory closure proceeds as quickly as is possible such that Cityview continues with the construction and development without delay from regulatory agency closure negotiations.
Throughout the development and pre-construction phase, Partner continues to support the Cityview development team with preparation of site-specific Soil Management Plans (SMPs) and works hand-in-hand with their grading and development contractors to appropriately manage impacted soil when warranted. Partner ensures the proper Vapor Intrusion Mitigation Systems (VIMS/vapor barriers) are designed for specific on-site environmental impacts, including methane, and installed with proper quality assurance/quality control inspections documented.
For Cityview’s acquisitions that do not involve development of sites with environmental issues, Partner’s multi-scope service offerings are packaged for expeditious due diligence evaluation, including Cityview’s value-add acquisitions with Joint Venture partners that involve quick turn-around-times. With a single point of contact Project Manager, the Partner team works collaboratively to provide not only Phase I ESAs, but Zoning, ALTA, Seismic, Property Condition Assessment (PCA), and Industrial Hygiene (IH) assessment reports to meet the transaction specific needs (e.g., lender or JV partnership requirements). Utilizing Partner’s multi-scope services allows Cityview to have a “one stop shop” that significantly adds to the efficiency and organization of their transactions.