Empty industrial buildings can be transformed into economic engines. The world’s first business incubator was started in a recycled brownfield factory in 1959. Obsolete, old industrial, commercial, and institutional properties can be filled with businesses to create jobs for local people in a variety of ways. Join us to learn about practical concepts that have led to the redevelopment of millions of square feet of brownfield facilities for a variety of communities across a spectrum of situations and developer structures. Use the Q&A period to explore YOUR opportunity!
Date: June 21, 2024
Speakers
Tom Mancuso, Vita Nuova
Tom Mancuso is a Senior Real Estate Advisor with Vita Nuova. He specializes in brownfield and economic development revitalization through the adaptive reuse of buildings into business incubators and local business centers.
He has spent his entire life in and around business incubators and industrial, commercial, and institutional properties. For over 40 years, he has worked as an advisor, broker, and property manager in cities, towns, and villages of all sizes to fill millions of square feet of empty buildings with thousands of businesses. Finding ways to recycle existing industrial and commercial properties to achieve strategic community objectives is Mr. Mancuso’s specialty.
His broad experience in service to private, public, for-profit, and not-for-profit projects, combined with serving as an elected official and corporate board member, helps Mr. Mancuso see projects from multiple perspectives and create solutions for all stakeholders.
He is the author of “Buildings That Create Jobs,” a book that shares real-world concepts for successfully reusing industrial and commercial properties for positive and sustainable economic development results.
Listen: Redevelopment Institute Podcast Episode 15 – “Buildings that Create Jobs: Exploring Business Incubators w/ Tom Mancuso“.
Dave Stebbins, Vita Nuova
Dave Stebbins has over 42 years of diversified experience in urban planning and development.
Mr. Stebbins was the Executive Vice President of Buffalo Urban Development Corporation (BUDC), a non-profit development entity which specializes in urban redevelopment, where he spent 17 years. One of the major projects Mr. Stebbins was engaged in prior to his retirement from BUDC was the redevelopment of an abandoned, 35-acre industrial complex on the City of Buffalo’s East Side (Northland Avenue), containing over 750,000 square feet of vacant industrial buildings spread over multiple properties. Mr. Stebbins spearheaded the planning, acquisition, design, funding, and implementation of this major brownfield redevelopment project. The project featured the $110 million historic rehabilitation of a 235,000 square foot manufacturing facility into the home for the Northland Workforce Training Center, Buffalo Manufacturing Works – a research and development organization for advanced manufacturing, and multiple other manufacturing tenants. Mr. Stebbins was instrumental in securing tax credit financing to augment State grants to implement the project, including NYS Brownfield, Federal & State Historic Rehabilitation and New Markets Tax Credits. The core project included extensive brownfield remediation, integrated public art and green infrastructure and a robust community engagement process. Previously, Mr. Stebbins helped to create the Buffalo Lakeside Commerce Park – a 275-acre brownfield reclamation of the former Hanna Furnace Steel Mill and Union Ship Canal along the shores of Lake Erie; RiverBend, a business park on a 260-acre brownfield site that was formerly a Republic Steel and Donner Hanna Coke facility along the Buffalo River and now home to the High-Tech Manufacturing Innovation Center (Tesla/Panasonic); and the Buffalo Free Trade Complex, a multi-building business park on the site of a former American Standard forge and manufacturing complex.
Moderated by: Elizabeth “Liz” Torres, Executive Director
Redevelopment Institute
Elizabeth Torres is the Executive Director of the Redevelopment Institute. She is a leader in helping urban communities redevelop. She has spent her entire career working with communities on housing and neighborhood investment initiatives. She is an expert in affordable housing, mixed-use development, and funding programs. Since 2018, she has focused on building the capacity of neighborhoods and nonprofit organizations to create and preserve affordable housing. She has led energy transition efforts, including green and affordable housing, energy efficiency efforts, and solar development in urban communities. She is an excellent facilitator and mentor to communities and nonprofits seeking to revitalize their neighborhoods and communities. Ms. Torres embodies an understanding of and commitment to placemaking – ensuring that all communities have a space that promotes health, happiness, and well-being.
The Redevelopment Institute is dedicated to rebuilding America through promotion of best practices, education, and technical assistance, striving to create communities and neighborhoods that are sustainable both environmentally and economically. By integrating disciplines, The Redevelopment Institute brings a creative process in redevelopment; crafting big ideas and creative solutions that lead to reinvestment in the toughest neighborhoods and communities in the country.