Regional Site Readiness Grant

Regional Site Readiness Grant — Marion Round 2

Funds business-site readiness in Marion and surrounding areas by supporting preparatory infrastructure upgrades for attracting investment.

⚠ This may reflect a past cycle — verify the current call on the funder's site.

The Regional Site Readiness Grant — Marion Round 2 is a capital grant program administered by the Illinois Department of Commerce and Economic Opportunity (DCEO) under the broader ReBuild Illinois initiative, a $45 billion bipartisan capital plan signed under Governor Pritzker. This round targets the Marion, Illinois area specifically and funds shovel-readiness work on industrial properties: site grading, utility installation, access road construction, and related infrastructure improvements designed to attract large-scale business investment to regional industrial sites.

Eligible applicants are typically units of local government, economic development organizations, or industrial park operators — private companies are not typical direct grantees. The application deadline for Round 2 is June 1, 2026. Award amounts are not published in DCEO's public grants catalog for this sub-program; interested applicants should contact DCEO directly for award ranges and program specifications. All DCEO capital grants follow Illinois's GATA (Grant Accountability and Transparency Act) uniform compliance framework, which governs financial reporting and accountability requirements.

To compete successfully, applicants should demonstrate a clearly identified industrial site in the Marion geographic area, a detailed infrastructure scope, and a credible plan for attracting major capital investment following site improvements. DCEO administers $3 billion in capital grants within the ReBuild Illinois envelope across multiple subprograms including Public Infrastructure, Regional Economic Development, and Prime Sites — regional site readiness rounds represent a targeted slice of that broader competitive capital portfolio.