This was probably one of the nastiest sites I’ve ever worked on, and I’ve been working on brownfield remediations for over 20 years. But you should see it today. We’re already seeing the impact of the redevelopment of this blighted area. You can see other sites are being redeveloped; one right next door. You can see the area start to be transformed. This is a first-class brownfields project; it’s just phenomenal.

Viridan was easy to deal with. They told us what they wanted to do, they told us what approvals they needed to get, and then kept us informed the entire time. This site was very polluted and it was quite a challenge. Not many companies could have come in and dealt with the severity of the clean-up. But Viridian did, and we’re thrilled.

The proof is in their results. What Viridian does is very difficult. There are a lot of challenges that get thrown their way on every single transaction. They’re very creative and they’re very capable of navigating difficult environmental and other concerns during the development process that other people might walk away from. Viridian always finds a way to see it through to the end.

The thing that impressed me about Viridian was that they really needed to be fairly hands on with potential buyers in terms of talking about what contamination the site had, what they’ve done and what they have to get through until final closure by the state. These guys are responsive and were available 24/7

The complications with the site were enormous, with multiple entities that were responsible for the pollution of the site; it was literally a nightmare. But Viridian got it done, and we now have a very fine warehouse distribution facilities and industrial buildings on the property. They redeveloped the property just spectacularly.

In addition to their skill set, accountability and values, there’s another aspect that’s unique to Viridian: they’re able to take a very difficult and challenging project and have fun with it. They’re always laughing and having a good time with everybody which I think is a little bit of a secret ingredient for how they’re able to get things done — by really bringing that human aspect and connecting people.  It can be the glue in a difficult project, to work with people who are fun and who value you. It’s a wonderful experience to work with them. 

These are heavy, heavy lifts for anyone in the industry. There’s a plethora of challenges, and there are only a handful of folks that get involved and have the expertise to close on these sites. Viridian is as good as it gets with brownfield sites.

There are a million items involved in a project like this and each of those items has a different path and coordinating those to go down the same path is very, very difficult. But Viridian makes it look easy. And they make it all look connected. It’s like solving a puzzle – knowing which pieces go where and how they fit.  Viridian’s level of detail is unlike anything that I’ve seen. It’s a monumental task, and they’re doing a phenomenal job.