I'm not sure I would consider Montlake to be a neighborhood that can be gentrified. I guess it could be even richer?

Very informative & readable piece, Nathalie Graham!

They're not being totally altruistic, Nathalie. As the new owner of a site, under MTCA a developer is on the hook for cleaning up contamination to the same extent as the original owner that actually caused it (if the original owner is still around). And if you're building a high-rise on an old gas station site, digging the hole for an eight-level underground parking garage means you will remove an awful lot of contaminated (as well as uncontaminated) soil.