From Vacant to Valuable: Building Community Wealth through Brownfield Redevelopment in Legacy Industrial Cities

Abstract

Recent federal investments in domestic manufacturing have renewed economic interest in legacy industrial cities across the United States. As these places attract new development, it is critical to safeguard against repeating the harms of the 20th-century exodus of industry and manufacturing jobs—when offshoring, suburbanization, and discriminatory housing policies deepened spatialized racial and economic inequalities. How can communities retain the wealth generated by new industrial investments, even if companies leave? This thesis explores how industrial brownfield redevelopment might utilize community wealth-building (CWB) strategies to advance equitable economic development. Focusing on the work of the Site Readiness for Good Jobs Fund in Cleveland, Ohio—a nonprofit preparing long-vacant industrial land for job-dense uses—it examines the potential for mission-driven organizations to use brownfield redevelopment to anchor wealth locally and proactively resist displacement. By analyzing case studies in Buffalo, Milwaukee, Chicago, and Philadelphia, the research tackles three questions: How do mission-driven organizations deliver community benefits through industrial brownfield redevelopments? In what ways do CWB models reshape how capital flows through redevelopment projects? And, what questions and decisions must the Site Readiness Fund consider to build lasting community wealth in Cleveland? Findings suggest that industrial brownfield redevelopment, when paired with strategic partnerships, site control, and a clear vision, offers a unique opportunity to implement CWB models. These strategies can help mission-driven organizations redistribute the risks and rewards of necessary public investments in brownfields and build trust with the community, ensuring that residents surrounding these reactivated sites benefit not just from new jobs, but from ownership and long-term economic power over their futures. The thesis concludes by applying these lessons to the Site Readiness Fund, outlining potential paths forward that embed economic democracy in the redevelopment of Cleveland’s legacy industrial areas.