CLICK TO HEAR JACK HALL’S INTERVIEW WITH MARTY FITTANTE, INVESTUP CEO
The Michigan Strategic Fund has approved a request to award Strategic Site Readiness Program grants to 11 economic development organizations located in the state’s 10 prosperity regions, totaling $25 million in support. One of those organizations is Invest U.P., which will receive $750,000 from the program.
“So if there’s a site within the Upper Peninsula that needs improvement, especially infrastructure improvement, so that it is ready for industry, ready for economic growth, we’re able to invest that money into that site,” Marty Fittante, the InvestUP CEO told RRN News. “We can then try to incentivize an economic development opportunity to that site.”
Fittante says they knew for about six months that the money would be coming, but it’s not been widely known among U.P. communities, so they’ve not had inquiries about tapping into this revenue stream.
“It hasn’t been advertised to this point,” Fittante said. “It needed to be approved by the Michigan Strategic Fund, and now it has been. But we do know from organic outreach from development opportunity from across the U.P., we do know of some sites that this could work for. So, we’ve already identified a couple of sites where this could really work well for.”
He says they’ll be put out a notice and an invitation so that other sites that they don’t know about might also apply.
“It’s $750,000, and it’s not going to change the complexion of the Upper Peninsula,” Fittante said. “But, nonetheless, it’s still a really nice investment from the state into the Upper Peninsula.”
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