Administration announces $2.6M in Brownfields Redevelopment Fund awards

The Baker-Polito administration yesterday announced the award of $2,612,740 from the Brownfields Redevelopment Fund to support 13 projects across the Commonwealth.

Brownfields Redevelopment Fund supports cities and towns by advancing the cleanup of environmentally compromised sites that can be costly to redevelop. The grant program helps to transform vacant, abandoned or underused industrial or commercial properties by financing environmental assessment and remediation.

“For over 20 years, the Brownfields Redevelopment Fund has invested tens of millions of dollars to ensure blighted and abandoned sites in Massachusetts can be safely redeveloped for residential and commercial use,” Lt. Gov. Karyn Polito said. “Our administration has been proud to champion this program and we look forward to seeing the projects that will grow from these cleaned-up properties.”

Also attending the announcement, held in Taunton, were Undersecretary of Community Development Ashley Stolba, MassDevelopment President and CEO Dan Rivera, and other state and local officials.

“Here in the Gateway City of Taunton, a $200,000 award will help clean up a brownfield site to pave the way for future housing,” Stolba said.

Taunton received a grant for site remediation for a known petroleum release at 5-7 Nickerson Ave. The site is located in a primarily residential neighborhood and would be attractive for residential development.

In addition to Taunton, awards went to Attleboro, Belchertown, Brockton, Fitchburg, Lowell, Merrimac, Peabody, Seekonk, Somerset, Southbridge, Springfield, and Weymouth. Most of the grants were in the range of $200,000 to $250,000.

“Brownfields awards will help communities from Gateway Cities to small towns address buildings, sites, and projects that for decades have laid dormant and blighted, depriving neighborhoods of hope and vibrancy,” Rivera said. “These dollars will lay the groundwork for new jobs and much-needed housing in places most neglected and hardest to build on.”

MassDevelopment oversees the Brownfields Redevelopment Fund, which has now supported 778 awards for a total of more than $114 million since its inception in 1998, according to the administration.

The program is part of the Community One Stop for Growth application portal, which provides a streamlined, collaborative review process for 12 state grant programs that fund economic development projects.

MassDevelopment, the state’s development finance agency and land bank, works with businesses, nonprofits, banks and communities to stimulate economic growth across the Commonwealth. During fiscal 2022, MassDevelopment financed or managed 356 projects generating investment of more than $1.69 billion in the Massachusetts economy, according to the administration. These projects are estimated to create or support 11,080 jobs and build or preserve 1,778 housing units.

• See list of Brownfields Redevelopment Fund Awards and projects