State Announces Funding Round for Brownfields Redevelopment

The Baker-Polito Administration and MassDevelopment have announced a new round of available funding from the Brownfields Redevelopment Fund to support the environmental assessment and cleanup of contaminated and challenging sites across the Commonwealth. Municipalities, municipal agencies or authori-ties, economic development and industrial corporations, and economic devel-opment authorities may apply for up to $100,000 in site assessment funding or up to $250,000 in remediation funding.

“Converting contaminated and challenging sites into new, constructive uses like affordable housing and commercial opportunities is critical to our goal of build-ing vibrant communities across the Commonwealth,” said Housing and Econom-ic Development Secretary Mike Kennealy.  “Through the Brownfields Redevel-opment Fund, we can remove a major barrier that would otherwise inhibit our progress toward economic recovery.”

“MassDevelopment is pleased to administer the Brownfields Redevelopment Fund, a critical resource for revitalizing challenging properties into new housing units, commercial space, and other productive uses,” said MassDevelopment President and CEO Lauren Liss. “We thank the Baker-Polito Administration and the Legislature for their continued support for this program and encourage cit-ies, towns, and their economic development partners to apply for funding.”

MassDevelopment oversees the Brownfields Redevelopment Fund, which helps to transform vacant, abandoned, or underused industrial or commercial proper-ties by financing the environmental assessment and remediation of brownfield sites in “Economically Distressed Areas” of the Commonwealth. Since the Fund’s inception in 1998, it has supported 747 projects for a total investment of more than $108 million.

This competitive round seeks to advance the redevelopment of sites without a committed end-user where market potential has been identified. It will not re-place the traditional process of accepting applications on a rolling basis for eli-gible proposals with an identified developer. The full Request for Proposals is available at massdevelopment.com/brownfields. Responses are due by 5 p.m. on Sept. 18.

MassDevelopment, the state’s finance and development agency, works with businesses, nonprofits, banks, and communities to stimulate economic growth. During FY2019, MassDevelopment financed or managed 316 projects generat-ing investment of more than $2 billion in the Massachusetts economy. These projects are estimated to create or support 9,743 jobs and build or preserve 1,992 housing units.

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