Louisiana officially launched the FastSites program on March 3, a $140 million economic development initiative meant to provide funding for projects around the state in order to encourage more business opportunities and promote economic prosperity. At Northwestern State University of Louisiana, the program implications can be witnessed first hand, as Natchitoches is one of 19 recipients of this first-round of funding.
The FastSites program, according to its website, will “use state funding to improve land and sites that can bring big benefits to local regions. The goal is to create more market-ready sites, places where businesses can build and grow quickly.”
To this, the program acts as a “revolving fund,” according to Government Market News, “where once a business eventually buys or leases one of the prepared sites, the state expects to recover its investment and reinvest the money in additional locations.” This allows for consecutive innovation attempts to happen within the state, with an overall reinvestment outlook, as money will continuously be put into the state.
The criteria to apply are listed on the FastSites website, including “local or regional economic development groups, cities and towns, non-profits, redevelopment authorities and other public groups (e.g., parishes or districts).”
The program had a quoted number of 50 applicants, but only 19 were accepted and funded. Some of these businesses consist of: Acadiana Regional Airport-Iberia Parish, ARQ Red River-Red River Parish, Esperanza-St. Charles Parish, Franklinton Industrial Park, Washington Parish, Gulf South Commerce Park-St. Tammany Parish, Lake Charles Regional Airport-Calcasieu Parish, Natchitoches Parish Port Warehouse-Natchitoches Parish, Naval Support Activity-Orleans Parish, Port Distran-Rapides Parish, Port of Columbus-Caldwell Parish, Port Viton-Calcasieu Parish, Proof Works-East Baton Rouge Parish and Riverplex MegaPark Port-Ascension Parish.
One of the accepted applicants is the Natchitoches Parish Port Warehouse, bringing FastSites funding to the local Natchitoches community.
“This project will support infrastructure at the port, such as new warehouses and road work on the grounds of the port. There are already tenants interested in leasing the space once constructed,” Laura Lyles, president and executive director of Natchitoches Chamber of Commerce, said.
Lyles predicts that advancements “will make the port more competitive to attract new industry, meaning new jobs in high-wage industries.” Lyles isn’t aware of any Natchitoches business that applied, but with the early success of the Natchitoches Parish Port Warehouse, more may apply should the program open funding to a second round of businesses.
Lyles described the key characteristics of the accepted projects. “Most of them went to multi-modal sites, meaning they had access to highway and rail, or highway and barge (water), or all three. These are the kinds of logistics solutions that are highly attractive to industry,” Lyles said.
With the logistics focus for the program being reinvestment, this method will allow the program to quickly generate a return on investment.
Although over half of the applicants were rejected, businesses should not be discouraged from applying and reapplying to the program.
Northeast Louisiana Economic Development (NELA) is an organization representing around 10 parishes in Northeast Louisiana that attempts to boost business growth, giving insight that rejection was always expected to be part of the program because of the demand for funding outpace[s] the supply. Rob Cleveland, NELA president, said that upon the delivery of results by the program jobs and new investment opportunities will be created. Furthermore, Cleveland notes that, ”When those results are realized, we hope to have additional funding to provide to projects that were not selected.”
If the return on investments from the 19 selected businesses of this first round is high, it is more likely that the reinvestment cycle will remain operational and worthwhile to investors for future businesses. With Louisiana ranked 47 in economics, 46 in infrastructure and 46 in opportunity in the United States, as stated by the Consumer News and Business Channel, the FastSites program aims to provide more economic opportunities to businesses throughout the state, helping to improve infrastructure and providing the chance for growth.
