A $200,000 grant awarded by Gov. Robert Bentley will help the city of Fayette bring home the jobs.
The Community Development Block Grant will assist the city in developing an incubator building designed to nurture start-up businesses and help them grow and produce local jobs. Area learning institutions, business organizations as well as Fayette County offices are aiding the effort.
Fayette will use the grant funding to convert a city-owned 135,000-square-foot manufacturing building into the Fayette Center of Manufacturing and Innovation. The building, located on six acres, has been without a tenant for 13 years but local officials believe its size and location are ideal for supporting new businesses.
In requesting the grant, local officials said that an area business has already expressed interest in using the new facility and officials hope to attract a business related to automotive manufacturing.
Following the renovations, city officials say three groups will assist the incubator program: the EDGE, an entrepreneurial outreach program of the University of Alabama’s Culverhouse College of Commerce; Bevill State University; and the Chamber of Commerce of West Alabama.
Bentley notified Mayor Ray Nelson that the grant had been approved. The city has pledged $50,000 in local funding for the project.
The Alabama Department of Economic and Community Affairs is administering the grant from funds made available to the state by the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development. ADECA administers a wide range of programs that support law enforcement, economic development, infrastructure upgrades, recreation, energy, water resources, job training and career development.
-30-
Contact Jim Plott or Larry Childers