You asked if the state could provide funds for cleaning up contaminated industrial buildings and converting them into research incubators.

Incubators house and support fledgling businesses until they can operate on their own. They do so by offering relatively low rents and legal, accounting, market research, management, and other business support services. Organizations can run incubators on a nonprofit or for-profit basis.

The Department of Economic and Community Development could provide funds to clean up and convert contaminated industrial buildings into research incubators under the multi-purpose Manufacturing Assistance Act (MAA). Eligible activities include acquiring and cleaning up property and constructing or rehabilitating facilities. MAA has funded incubators in Bridgeport and New Britain. (The New Britain incubator also received funds under the Regional Economic Development Program, but the program has received no funding for over a decade. )

The state could also fund incubator projects by combining funds from several different programs. It could provide funds under:

1. the Special Properties Remediation and Insurance Fund to assess sites and demolish structures;

2. MAA to acquire the property;

3. MAA, Urban Sites Remedial Action, or Environmental Assistance Revolving Loan programs to clean up the property; and

4. MAA to redevelop the site. (Businesses developing incubators could qualify for funding from Connecticut Innovations, Inc. and the Connecticut Development Authority).

The Urban and Industrial Sites Reinvestment Program could generate private funds for incubator projects. It provides up to $ 100 million in corporate business tax credits for redeveloping contaminated or potentially contaminated sites. Investors can directly invest their funds in the project or do so through a state registered investment fund manager. They must invest at least $ 5 million in order to qualify for the credits, which they may claim over a 10-year period according to a statutory schedule.

JR: ts