LANSING, Mich. — Sen. Joseph Bellino on Wednesday applauded the Michigan Economic Development Corporation’s approval of $87.5 million in grant funding for 18 projects across the state of Michigan — including a site in Monroe County.
The $87.5 million in grants were made through the Strategic Site Readiness Program (SSRP) to support the state’s efforts to compete for and win transformative projects.
The Monroe County Business Alliance will receive $82,310 to conduct site due diligence and evaluate the utility infrastructure at a 143-acre LAC site in Monroe County.
“It is great to see a Monroe County site earn one of these highly competitive grants — designed to help position our state for economic development and job creation,” said Bellino, R-Monroe. “This program is about making Michigan competitive for large-scale projects, such as attracting businesses to come here and build new manufacturing and energy facilities. These are the types of long-term investments that we should be doing — those that can help improve our communities for generations to come.”
The MEDC received 72 applications totaling more than $420 million in requests. The state prioritized projects that included repurposing brownfield or former manufacturing sites, those that are highly marketable due to location, can be developed quickly and most likely to have a significant impact on the state and regional economy.
According to the MEDC, of the 18 awardees, 10 are brownfield sites that will be receiving 49% of the award funding. The remaining funds of the full $100 million SSRP allocation will support applications requiring more time and evaluation, additional needs that may come up later and to support sites that enter the Site Readiness Certification Program, which is scheduled to be launched this fiscal year.
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