A local economic development official says the creation of a $40 million state grant program to incentivize the creation of “megasites” could be beneficial to Galesburg and the Knox County area.
Gov. JB Pritzker on Monday announced the creation of a $40 million grant program to incentivize the creation of large development-ready areas known as “megasites” across the state.
Megasites are large swaths of land, developed to attract businesses such as manufacturing plants, warehouses and distribution centers. Pritzker said developing these sites will help make Illinois more competitive, especially as sectors including clean energy and manufacturing are rapidly expanding in the U.S.
Ken Springer, president of Knox County Area Partnership for Economic Development tells WGIL the “megasites” grant initiative is designed to help communities develop shovel-ready development sites, similar to what Galesburg has done with its Galesburg Business Park property.
Springer said shovel-readiness is extremely important to prospective projects, as it impacts the amount of time necessary to conduct due diligence on a potential location. Shovel-readiness also means that some pre-development work like extending utilities and roads has been taken care of pre-emptively by the community.
In 2018-2019, KCAP and the City of Galesburg worked with its partners at BNSF to take Galesburg Business Park through a third-party shovel-ready certification process.
“The Illinois Megasites Development Program is going to help communities around the state create more shovel-ready development parks,” Springer said. “This move will be well-received by industry and site consultants and it will ultimately help Illinois be more competitive for large projects.”
Galesburg Business Park ag/rail project is still alive
In May of 2022, the City of Galesburg applied for a federal USDOT discretionary transportation grant to help secure funding for the installation of rail into Galesburg Business Park. The rail assets would support a private ag-to-rail facility in the park. Springer said Galesburg was not chosen for the USDOT grant program when the awards were announced in late 2022.
However, in November 2022, the City of Galesburg applied for a grant through the Federal Railroad Administration for the same project. The FRA program is narrower in scope, which means that our project has a higher chance of getting funded than with the USDOT program. Those grant awards will be announced sometime in the summer/fall months of 2023.
Springer said, “The Galesburg Business Park ag/rail project is still alive and we are currently waiting to hear whether or not Galesburg was awarded infrastructure funding through the FRA. We hope to be included in the list of funded projects when they are announced later in 2023.”
The Megasites Development Program announced Monday uses Rebuild Illinois capital funds aimed at providing the necessary infrastructure improvements to develop these megasites. Other eligible costs include various land acquisition, clean-up and development expenses.
The program is open to private entities, nonprofits and local governments, and the application portal is open through April 6. Those receiving the grant must match each dollar granted by the state with other private or local funding.
Rebuild Illinois funds will be open to private, public, nonprofit entities
Grant allotments would range from $250,000 up to $5 million, depending on the acreage of the site. Eligible sites must have at least 200 contiguous acres and applicants must own or have an agreement in place to acquire the property when they apply.
To help companies look for these “turn-key” locations in Illinois, Intersect Illinois has created a property finder that has more than 150 investment-ready sites in Illinois and a standalone guide with megasites over 1,000 acres.
Pritzker added that programs such as the Megasite Development Program are necessary to helping economic development as COVID-19 has eased up in recent years.
“As we’ve come out, I’ve been very aggressive. That’s not just in the last few months, that’s really over the last year and a half, two years, to make sure that we’ve got programs that are incentives for businesses, like Megasites,” Pritzker said. “Let’s prepare for them what they need.”
Nika Schoonover of Capitol News Illinois contributed to this report.
