(The Center Square) — Louisiana Economic Development is opening another $50 million round of funding to prepare industrial and commercial sites for future development, even as projects from the program’s initial $150 million investment are still being built out.

Projects must be ready to begin construction within nine months, provide matching funds and demonstrate a way for the state to recover its investment. LED says the money can be structured through loans, state partnerships or investments in infrastructure. Awards can range from $500,000 to $25 million.

“FastSites is changing how Louisiana prepares for economic development by investing before infrastructure becomes a barrier,” LED Chief Economic Competitiveness Officer Ileana Ledet said. “The first round showed the demand from communities ready to move critical site and infrastructure projects forward.”

The Legislature created the Site Investment and Infrastructure Fund in 2025 with $150 million and added another $50 million this year, bringing total state funding for the initiative to $200 million.

FastSites is intended to make properties more attractive to companies before a specific project commits to Louisiana by paying for roads, rail connections, utilities, environmental work and other improvements.

LED selected 19 sites in 16 parishes for the first round in March. Unlike conventional economic-development grants, FastSites was structured as a revolving fund, with recipients expected to repay the state as land is sold or leased or development moves forward.

The basic requirements for the second round largely mirror those imposed when FastSites launched last year, including the requirement that construction begin within nine months and that projects generate a return or repayment to the state.

The second round comes as LED continues finalizing and implementing agreements from the first. Recent projects include a $10 million investment to extend road access at the roughly 1,000-acre Esperanza site in St. Charles Parish and $1.4 million for McLeod Business Park in Lafourche Parish. The McLeod agreement calls for repayment beginning in 2027 and full repayment by August 2031.