The New Jersey Economic Development Authority (NJEDA) just announced that it has created a new loan program to provide low-interest financing for the remediation of brownfields sites. The new program, called the Brownfields Loan Program, is designed to put vacant and underutilized sites back to productive use as part of Governor Murphy’s goal of bringing economic growth to underserved communities.

The Brownfields Loan Program will provide a bridge loan of up to $5,000,000 to potential brownfield site purchasers and current owners for the costs to investigate and remediate site contamination, as well as for site building and structure related issues such as asbestos abatement. To be eligible for a loan, a New Jersey Licensed Site Remediation Professional must submit a report verifying the existence of contamination. The project must also have a redevelopment plan, an appraised value of at least 100 percent of all debt financing, and must demonstrate local support through a letter of support from the mayor of the municipality in which the project site is located.

Funding will be made available through competitive application rounds, with projects scored on site location, length of time the site has been vacant or underutilized, and similar redevelopment and remediation criteria. Funding priorities will be given to the site with the highest overall scores.

Applications for the Brownfields Loan Program will be available through the NJEDA sometime in the next few months.