Some interest in Koochiching County to an $80 million economic development program.
The Main Street Economic Revitalization Program offers both grants and loans for projects.
The first round of funding was released last fall.
Koochiching Economic Development Authority JoAnn Smith says between 30 and 35 businesses have shown interest in the second round.
“It’s just a pre-application because we’re just looking at how much money we would need to request from DEED for the projects that we want to do in our county. I think we’re at close to $8-9 million in projects,” says Smith.
Smith says at least two projects are in the two-million-dollar range.
KEDA is working with the Northland Foundation on the grant application.
The deadline for submissions is the end of this month.
Smith was surprised by the interest.
“But I’m really glad that a lot of people are thinking about taking advantage of this and wanting to invest. This will create a huge amount of investment in our county.”
