Environmental Site Assessment Grants

About

If you are buying commercial or industrial property in the City of Grand Rapids, you should invest in environmental-related assessments when acquiring property. These assessments can be expensive and should be completed before acquiring property so you know what you're dealing with, and don't put yourself or your company at risk. Completing these assessments at the right time can help protect you from future liabilities, and are usually required by lenders for real estate or business financing. The Grand Rapids Brownfield Redevelopment Authority (BRA), through the Local Brownfield Revolving Fund (LBRF), has set aside Environmental Site Assessment (ESA) grant funds to help businesses and developers offset these costs.

ESA grants can be used to pay for all of the following costs:

  • Phase I and II Environmental Assessments
  • Baseline Environmental Assessment
  • Hazardous Material Surveys
  • Due Care Planning (take measures to prevent unacceptable exposures to hazardous substances or create conditions that worsen the contamination) 

Eligibility

In order to be eligible for ESA grant funding, you must have recently purchased a property (within the last 45 days) or have a legal option or purchase agreement for the property. Additionally, you must be proposing a project that will result in one or more of the following:

  • New job creation
  • New private investment (excluding deferred maintenance or minor renovation costs)
  • New commercial or industrial space for a business (completed to a "white box" level at a minimum)
  • New housing units (minimum of four units)

Apply

If you would like to apply for an ESA grant, call us at 616-456-3462 or email us at econdevshrd@grcity.us to discuss your project. If your project qualifies, you can apply online by clicking one of the links below. If you would like a paper copy of the application to fill out, please contact the Economic Development office at the phone number or email above.

Online Application

Online Application (Spanish) 


Resources