Brownfields Assessment
Understanding how to best advance a potentially contaminated site is complicated. Awards from the Brownfields Redevelopment Fund allow development teams to hire Licensed Site Professionals who can help them understand and navigate the standards required to return properties to active use.
To apply for funds, businesses, nonprofits, municipalities, and economic development organizations must have site control and evidence of the right to enter the site to perform environmental testing.
They must also have not: (a) owned or operated the site at the time the contamination occurred; (b) caused or contributed to the contamination; (c) a business or familial relationship with the contaminator; (d) any outstanding administrative or judicial enforcement actions against their Massachusetts properties; nor (e) access to the Underground Storage Tank Fund.
Proposed redevelopment projects must result in at least one of the following public benefits: job creation, job retention, economic or physical revitalization, or creation/rehabilitation of housing.
Cultural Facilities Fund Feasibility
Administered jointly with the Massachusetts Cultural Council, this program is an initiative to increase public and private investment in cultural facilities that are 501(c)(3) organizations engaged in the arts, humanities, or interpretive sciences.
Feasibility & Technical Assistance grants for the overall planning and feasibility of a proposed eligible project require a match by contributions from the private or public sector. Any of the following would qualify for consideration:
- Architectural & engineering plans, designs, or studies.
- Energy efficiency/green building assessments.
- ADA accessibility assessments.
- Capital campaign feasibility studies.
- Business and operations planning for opening or expanding a cultural facility.
- Any combination of the above.
Collaborative Workspace Feasibility
The Collaborative Workspace Program accelerates the pace of new business formation, job creation, and entrepreneurial activity by supporting infrastructure that funds community-based innovation. But before construction and build out can begin, project managers must understand if their ideas are economically, financially, and physically feasible at their proposed location. The Collaborative Workspace Program’s Seed Grant program allows entrepreneurs to hire consultants to help them with predevelopment planning such as early-stage cash flow analysis, market development plans, and space planning. The maximum amount for a Seed/Feasibility Grant is $15,000 for predevelopment costs including feasibility studies and design work.