Metropolitan Council spurs economic development by funding brownfield cleanup

$2.4 million in Livable Communities funding helps with cleanup for 12 redevelopment projects in four cities

Contact: Bonnie Kollodge
651.602.1357

ST. PAUL—Jan.11, 2012—The Metropolitan Council today approved $2.4 million to help fund brownfield cleanup for 12 redevelopment projects in Minneapolis, St. Louis Park, St. Paul and White Bear Lake.

“The Livable Communities program is a proven jobs and economic development tool,” said Council Chair Susan Haigh. “The funds help to leverage many public and private dollars to advance brownfield cleanup, which is often the first step in redevelopment that creates housing opportunities and job growth.”

Projects include, for example, cleanup at a vacant, foreclosed auto sales and service facility in Minneapolis to make way for a mixed-use development with housing and retail space. Another project will clean up and redevelop a former gas station in St. Louis Park to make way for housing.

As part of the Livable Communities program the Council awards funds several times a year to investigate and clean up polluted sites to facilitate productive redevelopment. This funding round will help clean up 49 acres, create or retain more than 1,057 jobs, increase the net tax base by $1.9 million and promote nearly $370 million in private investment.

More than 90 metro-area communities participate in the Livable Communities program, which provides funding for:

affordable housing,
development that promotes mixed-use and connected land use linking housing, jobs and services, and
brownfield or polluted site cleanup.

Since the Livable Communities program became law in 1995, the Council has made 315 brownfield clean up grant awards to 41 communities totaling nearly $88 million. The awards are helping to leverage another $5 billion in private investment, create and retain more than 36,000 jobs, increase the net tax base by more than $80 million and clean up more than 1,900 acres of contaminated properties.

Projects awarded funding

Jackson Flats, Minneapolis--$28,000 to assist with an environmental assessment and remedial action plan on an acre residential site with suspected contaminated ground water and soil vapor resulting from previous automotive service and metal plating activities nearby. Future development may include up to 35 affordable live/work units.
Boat Works Commons, White Bear Lake--$18,600 help complete a hazardous materials survey, environmental assessment and remedial action plan on a 1.6-acre commercial site used as a boat dealership and repair facility. Future development may include 89 apartments, community, retail and rental space and structured parking.
430 Oak Grove, Minneapolis--$265,300 to assist with environmental investigation, asbestos- and lead-based paint abatement and well-sealing on former office space. Development includes renovation of the building into 75 apartments.
Jaguar, Minneapolis--$442,900 to assist with environmental investigation, asbestos and PCB abatement, and soil remediation on a 2.5-acre commercial site used as an automotive sales and service business with many prior uses, including manufacturing. Development plans include 286 apartments and approximately 40,000 square feet of retail grocery space.
Riverside Plaza II, Minneapolis--$300,000 to assist with additional asbestos and lead-based paint abatement within 11 existing buildings at the 10-acre site. All 1,303 housing units in the complex, most of which are affordable, will be renovated.
Snelling Apartments, Minneapolis--$140,600 to assist with environmental investigation, asbestos abatement, and soil remediation on a half-acre industrial site most recently used by a machining business. Former uses include a lumber, coal and iron yard, grain storage and food processing. Planned development includes 60 affordable senior apartments.
Heritage Park Senior Service Center, Minneapolis--$26,900 to assist with additional soil remediation on a 2.3-acre site for development of a 48,000 square-foot senior health and wellness center, parking and a 48-unit memory care facility
Ellipse II, St. Louis Park--$275,000 to assist with additional environmental site assessment, a remedial action plan, soil remediation and vapor barrier installation on a 0.73-acre vacant commercial site formerly used as a gas station. Planned development includes 58 apartments with underground parking and on-grade overflow parking
Chittenden and Eastman Building, St. Paul--$128,000 to help with additional hazardous materials assessment, asbestos and lead-based paint abatements of a seven-story building on a one-acre site formerly used as showroom, manufacturing and warehouse space for furniture businesses. Planned development includes renovation of the building into 104 apartments.
Rayette Lofts, St. Paul --$324,800 to assist with an environmental site assessment update and asbestos and lead-based paint abatements of a seven-story building on a half-acre site formerly used as a warehouse for a cosmetics and hairspray company and currently used as a parking garage. Planned development includes 76 apartments (including 15 affordable units) and 2,500 square feet of retail space.
Schmidt Brew House, St. Paul--$248,200 to help with additional asbestos and lead-based paint abatements of a building most recently used as part of an ethanol plant prior to being vacant. The existing Brew House buildings will be renovated into 130 affordable apartments.
Beacon Bluff (Phase II and III), St. Paul --$209,200 to help with soil vapor mitigation on 25 acres that is the site of the former 3M campus in St. Paul. Development includes approximately 400,000 square feet of space for light industrial and commercial uses.

The Council received 24 applications totaling more than $5 million for brownfield cleanup awards this funding round.

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The Metropolitan Council is the regional planning organization in the seven-county Twin Cities metropolitan area. The Council runs the regional bus and light rail system and Northstar commuter rail, collects and treats wastewater, coordinates regional water resources, plans regional parks and administers funds that provide housing opportunities for low- and moderate-income families. The Council board is appointed by and serves at the pleasure of the Governor.

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