Six Minnesota communities, including four in the east metro, have been awarded $2.15 million in contamination cleanup and investigation grants from the Minnesota Department of Employment and Economic Development.
The grants are designed to cover three-quarters of the cost of removing contaminated materials at each site, with the rest covered from other sources.
The grant awardees are:
- Maplewood: $402,603 to clean the former site of a gas station, funeral home and power equipment company. The site will be redeveloped into Gladstone Village, a 65-unit affordable housing building.
- Newport: $418,500 to clean up petroleum and other pollutants at a site where former uses included office space and semi parking. The site will be developed into Red Rock Villas, four apartment buildings with a total of 143 units.
- Shoreview: $624,693 for a former public works facility site. It will be redeveloped into Rice Street Crossing, an apartment building with 253 units; 51 of them affordable, plus a 10,000-square-foot commercial/retail building.
- St. Paul Port Authority: $178,075 for the Wire Mill expansion and upgrade, a site contaminated with heavy metals from a mix of previous uses. The site will be turned into a 30,000-square-foot expansion for a nearby business.
- Minneapolis: $394,411 for the expansion of O'Shaughnessy Distilling on a site that previously housed a blacksmith, railroad tracks and automotive repair.
- Albert Lea: $130,527 for cleanup leading to the construction of a convenience store and filling station at the former site of a meatpacking facility.
