Site Shortage? Look Again.
While many states, regions, location advisors and companies bemoan a lack of shovel-ready sites for industrial development, a bevy of certification and funding announcements for that exact type of property continues to proliferate. All you have to do is look around. Drawn from recent news releases:
Calgary, Alberta-based Canadian Pacific Kansas City in March announced the certification of 14 new Site Ready rail-served industrial development locations across six U.S. states, three provinces in Canada and two states in Mexico, strengthening CPKC’s Room to Grow strategy and opening more than 6,600 acres of immediately developable land to prospective manufacturers, logistics operators and supply chain partners.
The sites join eight others that CKPC has certified in partnership with global engineering and construction leader Burns & McDonnell. “Each certified location is designed to streamline development, accelerate timelines and create new value for both business and communities through unparalleled rail connectivity,” said CPKC Executive Vice-President and Chief Marketing Officer John Brooks.
Also in March, Louisiana Economic Development unveiled 19 sites spanning 16 parishes moving forward in the inaugural FastSites round, marking what the agency called “the largest coordinated site investment effort in state history.” Sites were selected through a competitive evaluation process assessing market viability, infrastructure gaps, execution timelines and return of capital to the state. Each project was required to demonstrate a clear path to repayment as development occurs, reinforcing the program’s disciplined investment structure. “In today’s environment, if utilities, rail, roads or due diligence aren’t in place, companies simply move on,” said LED Secretary Susan B. Bourgeois. “FastSites allows us to eliminate those barriers in advance and present Louisiana as truly project-ready.”
Last May, Pennsylvania Governor Josh Shapiro created the PA SITES (Pennsylvania Strategic Investments to Enhance Sites) program, securing $500 million for site development, including $400 million for PA SITES, in the bipartisan 2024-25 budget. PA SITES received 66 applications for over $377 million worth of projects. The Commonwealth is investing $64 million in 11 projects through the first round of PA SITES. “When we were developing the Economic Development Strategy, we took feedback from site selector experts who told us Pennsylvania needs more readily available sites for growing businesses to see Pennsylvania as a viable option,” said Secretary of Community and Economic Development Rick Siger.
In neighboring New York in March 2026, Empire State Development announced more than $7 million in grants awarded to improve three locations in Chautauqua, Herkimer and Schenectady Counties under the Focused Attraction of Shovel-Ready Tracts New York (FAST NY) program. First announced by Governor Kathy Hochul in February 2022, FAST NY has awarded more than $333 million to 41 sites across Upstate New York, supporting efforts at nearly 8,800 acres — including infrastructure improvements at 4,775 developable acres.
In January, West Virginia Governor Patrick Morrisey awarded $2.1 million in Ready Sites grants ($75,000 apiece) to support engineering and architectural work and geotechnical and environmental studies that will help prepare business-ready sites across 23 West Virginia locations.
In April 2026, Illinois Governor JB Pritzker and the Illinois Department of Commerce and Economic Opportunity (DCEO) announced an additional $30 million in funding for the Regional Site Readiness Program — bringing the total to $60 million for this round. Governor Pritzker and DCEO also announced the first wave of awards from the Capital Ready Regional Site Readiness Program, totaling $25.9 million to support site readiness at seven sites across Illinois.
The investment is part of Governor Pritzker’s $500 million FY2026 site readiness initiative, which includes $200 million for DCEO’s Site Ready Illinois and the Regional Site Readiness Program. It also includes $300 million for the Surplus to Success program, led by Central Management Services, to prepare idle state-owned properties for private development.
Shovel-readiness is not confined to states: The Detroit Regional Partnership’s Verified Industrial Properties (VIP) program to date has invested over $5 million to support site owners and brokers and hosts over 85 verified sites on its online portal.
