The Tennessee Department of Economic and Community Development is seeking applications for its Site Development Grant.
Donor Name: Tennessee Department of Economic and Community Development (TNECD)
State: Tennessee
County: All Counties
Type of Grant: Grant
Deadline: 08/21/2025
Size of the Grant: More than $1 million
Grant Duration: Grant Duration Not Mentioned
Details:
With funding approved through the legislature for the Rural Economic Opportunity Fund, TNECD is investing in site development grants. This grant opportunity will improve many of TNECD’s nationally recognized Select Tennessee certified sites and prepare other sites to achieve certification.
Funding Information
- Site Development Grant Maximum: $5,000,000
- Due Diligence Site Development Grant Maximum: $100,000.
Eligible Activities
- Construction Activities
- Access roadways, acceleration/deceleration/turn lanes, traffic signalization, rail lines/signalization/switching, utility line construction/relocation including electricity, water, sewer, gas and telecommunications
- Property-Related Activities
- Purchase of property, right-of-way, easements, legal fees, tree/vegetation clearing, grubbing, grading, drainage improvements, detention/retention ponds, due diligence studies
- Due Diligence Grants
- Due diligence grant amounts are limited to $100,000 (maximum).
- Site must be under option for a minimum of three years prior to grant being awarded.
- Funding for site due diligence may not be awarded if there are other problems with the site that cause concern for development.
- Though TNECD prefers that the options be secured at no charge, if option costs are necessary, they can be used as local match.
- Rehabilitation of Publicly-Owned Industrial Buildings
- Certification requirement would be waived if funded.
- Brownfield remediation
- Application must be accompanied by an industrial clean-up plan approved by TDEC Division of Remediation.
- Properties must meet normal eligibility requirements for the Site Development Grant Program.
- Speculative Building Construction
- Site and building must be publicly owned. Site must meet eligibility requirements for the Site Development Grant Program.
- Minimum building size is 100,000 square feet expandable to 200,000 square feet. Additional requirements will be included in the application.
Eligibility Criteria
- Applicant must be a governmental entity (City, County, Industrial Development Board, etc.)
- One application per governmental entity may be submitted
- One application per site may be submitted
- Site must be publicly-owned at the time of application, unless the grant request is to purchase the property or for Due Diligence Studies
- County where site is located must meet all ThreeStar annual requirements
- Sites must be at least 20 acres and have gone through at a minimum the site visit by Austin Consulting (Foote) for the Select TN certification program, the site visit and evaluation by Austin Consulting for PEP or the site visit by KPMG for the Invest Prep program. Entities in Tier 3 and 4 counties may submit sites that are at least 10 acres and meet all other requirements.
- Sites with open SDG projects are not eligible to apply.
For more information, visit TNECD.
