More information and the application are available at https://www.njeda.com/21stcentury.
Beginning today, municipalities have 45 days to apply for funding through the program. The NJEDA will administer the program in accordance with the updated parameters approved in 2019, meaning grants of up to $50,000 are available to help municipalities, counties, and redevelopment agencies develop plans to repurpose vacant properties into productive economic assets. Potential uses of the grant funding include, but are not limited to:
- Legal analysis to explore designating one or more relevant properties in the community as an “area in need of redevelopment.”
- Stakeholder engagement and facilitation to identify community desires and needs.
- Identification of appropriate funding sources to support community led re-use of one or more properties.
- Cataloging relevant retail and office properties in a community and identifying priority sites when considering community needs.
- Economic analysis relating to the feasibility of various redevelopment and/or reuse scenarios.
- Land-use planning identifying the most suitable re-use scenarios.
Once all applications are received, staff will evaluate and score them competitively, with the fifteen highest scoring applications recommended to the Board for grants. In addition to receiving funding, grant recipients will be required to participate in at least two events hosted by the NJEDA to foster a dynamic discussion about repurposing stranded assets and provide guidance to communities facing similar challenges.
More information about the 21st Century Redevelopment Program, including detailed eligibility and application scoring criteria, is available at https://www.njeda.com/21stcentury/.