Kristina Slattery
Kristina Slattery
Commissioner
Business Development

Kentucky Cabinet for Economic Development
800.626.2930
502.564.7670
Kristina.Slattery@ky.gov

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Select Kentucky – think one-stop shop for all things site selection – is one of our most useful tools for helping a business find its future home. Our state-of-the-art GIS tool provides business owners with an array of industrial property options and showcases community profiles and existing industry data.

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How does being Build-Ready benefit my community?

By achieving Build-Ready status, you have drastically reduced the amount of time it takes a company to locate in your community. When a company is going through the site selection process, time is often a significant factor. The quicker a company can locate on a site, build their facility and start operating, the quicker they can start making money. Companies can build their facilities and start their operations sooner on Build-Ready sites than they can on an average greenfield site that hasn’t been prepared.

Are there any costs to become Build-Ready?

There will be some necessary investments to make a site Build-Ready. Likely investments include, but are not limited to: environmental studies, planning and design and land preparation. Most of the costs will be incurred through the contracting of engineering firms to perform necessary studies, design work and ground work on the site.

I am not familiar with construction or development. Who can help me get started?

A community cannot perform all the work to make a site Build-Ready on its own. The first step would be to contact CED to learn more about the process. From there, the community will hire engineers and contractors to carry out the work.

What is the difference between a Build-Ready site and a Shovel-Ready site?

All Build-Ready sites are Shovel-Ready because they are properly zoned, have all utilities available, and are free of any environmental issues. What sets Build-Ready sites apart is the ground work and building design that has been done, which decreases the time required to start construction.

What is the difference between a Build-Ready site and building a spec building?

Both Build-Ready sites and spec buildings are great ways for communities to prepare for and attract new industry. The big difference is the building. A Build-Ready site does not have a building, so having a speculative building is one major step beyond Build-Ready. The cost associated with building a spec building is obviously much greater, but does further reduce timelines for prospective companies. Build-Ready sites require a much smaller upfront investment on the part of the community while also offering prospective companies more flexibility in building design.

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