Charlie Baker, MassDevelopment tout $3.2 million in economic development grants

Gov. Charlie Baker, alongside MassDevelopment, awarded $3.2 million in grants to help develop underutilized land he said could be key to getting Massachusetts to the “next normal” post-pandemic.

“I think it creates great opportunities for people at the state and local level to work together, and perhaps even put some federal resources to work to try to make some of this stuff happen,” Baker said.

Baker made his comments from his Marblehead home during a virtual briefing on the MassDevelopment grants on Tuesday morning. Baker — who traveled to Florida for a family funeral over the weekend — is out of quarantine after testing negative for COVID-19 since returning to the state, according to his office.

Massachusetts travel restrictions during the ongoing pandemic require anyone entering the state — including residents returning from high-risk areas, to quarantine for 10 days or produce a negative COVID-19 test result within 72 hours of their return. Florida — and every state and territory besides Hawaii, Missouri, Oregon, Washington and Puerto Rico — remain on Massachusetts’ list of high-risk states.

Pittsfield Mayor Linda Tyer highlighted the $880,000 grant that will support engineering and design work at the 16.5-acre Site 9 in the William Stanley Business Park in her city. It’s an effort she said is “critical to initiating the site’s redevelopment, making it a more attractive open for private sector development, including industrial manufacturing, warehouse, commercial and retail and office space.”

The grant program was created under a 2016 economic development law and was reauthorized with $15 million as part of a $626 million jobs package Baker signed in January.

The other sites receiving grant money are:

• Carriage Grove Power Plant in Belchertown – $804,000
• Frederick Douglass Avenue in Brockton – $70,000
• Burlington Mall Road in Burlington – $85,000
• Route 6/Route 240 in Fairhaven – $75,000
• Gloucester’s waterfront redevelopment – $700,000
• The Marriner Building in Lawrence – $135,000
• Millbrook Industrial Park in Leicester – $50,000
• Palmer’s Church Street bridge – $280,000
• Hudson Drive/Sam West Road Industrial Park in Southwick – $105,000

Herald wire services contributed to this report.

from Boston Herald https://ift.tt/3thUJWP