Bristol, Tennessee – Bristol Tennessee Essential Services (BTES) was awarded $500,000 from Tennessee Governor Bill Lee as part of the Site Development Grant Program that helps communities prepare industrial sites for businesses. The Site Development Grant program, part of the Rural Economic Opportunity Act, works in tandem with TNECD’s Select Tennessee program. BTES was one of eight recipients.
“These funds will continue to help Tennessee communities attract jobs and enhance the quality of life for their residents," Governor Lee said. "I congratulate the recipients and thank them for their efforts in building and growing businesses here in Tennessee.”
The grant awarded to the Bristol Business Park will be used for the clearing, grading, and seeding of two separate sites totaling approximately 22 acres to accommodate a 35,000-square foot building and up to a 200,000-square foot building.
“Having large pad-ready sites are a critical component in attracting new business to our community,” said BTES CEO Mike Browder. “Having pad-ready sites gives us the opportunity to participate in requests for information from Site Selection Consultants that we wouldn’t have been able to otherwise. Pad-ready sites are more attractive to potential businesses since it helps to mitigate risk and allows for a faster speed to market. This, in addition to BTES’ highly reliable electric service and 10 Gigabits of Internet service availability, will help attract advanced manufacturing, service industries, data centers, fulfillments centers or corporate offices to this newly developed site.”
Through the combined efforts of BTES, the City of Bristol Tennessee, the Tennessee Department of Transportation, the Tennessee Department of Economic and Community Development, and the Tennessee Valley Authority, a complete infrastructure system has already been installed at the Park including roadway, water, sewer, storm drainage, electrical and fiber optic.
"We are excited to join our economic development partners, both here locally and at the state level, in preparing additional sites within the Bristol Business Park for a wide array of business and industrial uses," said Bristol, Tennessee City Manager Bill Sorah. "Working together, we can transform these grant dollars into really meaningful new opportunities for our community."
The application process was competitive with grants awarded based on benefit to the community, economic impact, leveraged resources, and ability to implement a successful project.
