Greyfield land
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Greyfield land (aka grayfield land) is economically obsolescent, outdated, failing, moribund and/or underutilized real estate assets or land. The term was coined in the early 2000s as a way to describe the sea of empty asphalt that often accompanied these sites. "Greyfield" is a relative neologism when compared to more commonly known terms such as brownfields or greenfields.
The term has historically been applied to formerly viable retail and commercial shopping sites (such as regional malls and strip centers) that suffer from lack of reinvestment and have been "outclassed" by larger better designed, better anchored malls or shopping sites. This retail-centric application to greyfields may also be referred to as "dead malls" or "ghost boxes" if the anchor or other major tenants have vacated the premises leaving behind empty shells.
Unlike brownfields (which usually feature levels of environmental contamination), greyfields typically do not require remediation in order to unlock value to an investor. The hidden value, in many cases, is the presence of an underlying infrastructure and other important qualities (such as access to utilities, parking, central location, etc.) that may be leveraged in a well-executed redevelopment of the site.
The greyfields term may also be applied more broadly to urban infill or commercial locations where underutilization or outdated (non-retail) uses hamper an otherwise valuable real estate asset. An example would be a formerly industrial waterfront site that is potentially valuable as a commercial site as it is being encroached upon by residential sprawl, or other economic or redevelopment pressures.
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