Planning & Predevelopment

MassDevelopment works with municipal officials, planners, local stakeholders, and others to provide technical assistance aimed at addressing site-specific and/or district-wide economic development challenges. Through MassDevelopment’s in-house expertise and contracts with “house doctor” consultants, our real estate services team provides creative solutions and feasible steps for municipalities and other public entities to effectively address planning and development projects.

Real Estate Services (RES) Technical Assistance

Through a combination of in-house expertise and contracts with consultants, under this program MassDevelopment works with municipal officials, planners, local stakeholders, and others to address site-specific and district-wide economic development challenges. The funds support a range of projects, from feasibility studies to master planning efforts.

MassDevelopment’s Real Estate Services advance local economic development goals in cities and towns around the Commonwealth. These projects enable municipalities to explore the development potential of key properties, address streetscape and infrastructure needs, and plan for growth.

Our real estate team supports projects at every stage of development. We work at a wide range of scales to help communities and the places they care about thrive.

program guidelines

apply for real estate assistance

What makes a good project?

Technical Assistance proposals must be tied to either the redevelopment of public surplus property or district redevelopment planning.

Public Surplus Property Projects

Public surplus property projects help a community find a new use for the property that result in the redevelopment of the property and accomplishes one or more of the following goals:

Attract or retain jobs
Create housing opportunities
Assist historically disadvantaged communities
Advance smart growth
Advance planning and predevelopment activities to a point where the private sector is compelled to invest in the project area

Examples of public surplus property projects:

Site Concept Plans and Market Feasibility Studies - Including feasibility and planning studies in addition to concept-level master planning.
Request for Proposals / Qualifications - Development of materials to support the municipality's disposition process and the analysis of proposals to support their decision.

NOTE: Future municipal use planning, such as for town offices, community centers, parks, etc. is not an eligible use of funds. However, if the future use still must be determined then Real Estate Services can explore a wide range of reuse options through community engagement activities.

District Redevelopment Technical Assistance

Early-stage projects to spur economic development activities within a commercial, industrial, or mixed-use district that should accomplish one or more of the following goals:

Attract or retain jobs
Create housing opportunities
Assist historically disadvantaged communities
Advance smart growth
Advance planning and predevelopment activities to a point where the private sector is compelled to invest in the project area

Examples of district redevelopment technical assistance projects:

District Redevelopment Strategies
Corridor Studies
District Improvement Financing (DIF)

To be competitive, a district should have public surplus property and/or underutilized properties within the area.

How to apply

Real Estate Services Technical Assistance is part of the Community One Stop for Growth, a single application portal and collaborative review process of community development grant programs that makes targeted investments based on a Development Continuum. Municipalities, municipal agencies, and other public entities can apply for RES Technical Assistance funding through the One Stop portal.

MassDevelopment will be part of your team and will provide our experience and project management skills to your project.

Vetted Consultants - MassDevelopment has a pool of third-party consultants under contract, ready to move forward on your project. MassDevelopment goes through a public procurement process to secure qualified and experienced consultants to move forward quickly on projects. Our contracted house doctors were chosen based on relevant experience, consulting capacity, and diverse business enterprise participation.
Straight Forward Contracting - As a state agency, the contracting process with MassDevelopment is easy and straight forward. We’ll work with you and one of our qualified third party consultants to provide a scope of services for your project and include it in our standard MOA.
Project Management Assistance - We’ll work closely with you every step of the way. If we don’t have an answer, we are able to tap into the expertise of our colleagues at MassDevelopment. We also manage the processing and paying of invoices and administering the contract.