by Jon Styf
Tennessee is sending $17 million in taxpayer funds to communities throughout the state to build out infrastructure on vacant sites being prepared for future businesses.
The largest grant is more than $4.5 million to Crossville for speculative building construction at Interchange Business Park.
The second largest grant is $4.5 million to Lawrence County to buy land and install water, sewer, natural gas and electrical infrastructure at the Lawrenceburg Industrial Park.
The grants are part of the Tennessee Department of Economic and Community Developmentās Site Development Grant program, which has spent almost $100 million in grants since it began in 2016.
The grants also include a nearly $1.7 million grant to Columbia for electrical infrastructure at the Columbia Tennessee Rail Site and $1 million to Pulaski and Giles counties for property grading at the Dan Speer Industrial Park South.
Other grants include access road construction ($984,752) at Athens McMinn Innovation Park in McMinn County, electrical infrastructure at Macon-Lafayette Industrial Park in Macon County, sewer infrastructure ($843,535) at the Decatur County Industrial Site in Decatur County and $829,452 for a project including access road construction, property grading and both water and sewer infrastructure at the Huntingdon Industrial Park South.
Bolivar will receive $700,000 for building rehabilitation at Hardeman County Industrial Park while $500,000 will go to engineering studies at the Selmer Industrial Park North.
Five $100,000 due diligence grants went for the Milan Arsenal Property, Northwest Tennessee Regional Industrial Center in Union City, Linden Site in McMinnville in Warren Countiy, Darnell Property in Morgan County and Greene Valley in Tusculum and Greeneville in Greene County.
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Jon Styf is an award-winning editor and reporter for The Center Square, who has worked in Illinois, Texas, Wisconsin, Florida and Michigan in local newsrooms over the past 20 years, working for Shaw Media, Hearst and several other companies.
Photo “Interchange Business Park Site” by Tennessee Department of Economic and Community Development.