Source: http://www.twincities.com, January 8, 2016
By: Sarah Horner
Two St. Paul projects will get a little help from the Minnesota Department of Employment and Economic Development.
The redevelopment projects are among 14 statewide that will collectively receive $6.2 million in investigation and cleanup grant funding in 2016 from the state agency, according to information released by DEED Friday.
The funding is aimed at bolstering projects that will retain or create jobs in Minnesota and is awarded twice annually.
Both projects that made the cut involve redeveloping formerly polluted sites into market-rate apartment buildings.
The city received about $200,000 to clean up contaminants found at a roughly 1-acre site at 735 Cleveland Ave. that was once a bank and real estate office in Highland Village.
Developers plan to a mixed-use building on the parcel that will include about 60 market-rate apartments, 9,000 square feet of office space and 3,500 square feet of retail.
The project will create 42 jobs, retain 40 others and increase the tax base by about $450,000, according to DEED.
St. Paul also received about $1 million for environmental cleanup on a 5-acre site on Fillmore Avenue in the West Side Flats area. The parcel used be the locale for a foundry, power plant and battery-crushing facility.
Plans for that property include a four-story apartment complex that will house about 170 market-rate apartments.
The redevelopment is expected to create three jobs and increase the tax base by about $500,000, DEED reported.
Also in the east metro, the Washington County Housing and Redevelopment Authority was awarded about $19,000 to clean up the former site of a trash-hauling business and residence to make way for senior housing.
Projects in Minneapolis, Owatonna, Fridley, Rochester and Virginia also secured DEED funding.