PORTLAND, Maine (NEWS CENTER) --
The city of Portland hosted a bus tour of Portland's east bayside neighborhood on Thursday.
The city is trying to figure out how to distribute $200,000 in federal grant money in the neighborhood.
The money will help people who own and want to redevelop brownfield sights figure out how to do that.
East Bayside was selected as one of twenty neighborhoods in the country to get the money.
It was full of heavy industry for around a hundred years.
Some businesses owners hope they receive the grant money to continue their existing development projects.
“It will hopefully allow us to do some additional planning and try to overcome some of the obstacles that are preventing development,” said Michael Cardente, a property owner interested getting some help from the grant.
City leaders say the process of getting the sites and neighborhood fully revitalized will take time.
“We have a lot of obstacles in terms of the way it was laid out and in terms of pollutants in the ground,” said Portland Mayor Ethan Strimling. “This was really a chance for people to understand what some of those pieces are that are obstacles but also to see there are some interesting and exciting developments and ways people have turned, perhaps, some of the problems down here into real opportunities.”
Thursday's bus tour was the beginning of the process of selecting properties to invest in.
Other steps will include official city approval and community workshops.