CENTRAL CITY CORRIDOR Moorhead, MN Assessment Grant A New Gateway to Moorhead ADDRESS: 4th Street at the entrance to the Main Avenue Bridge, Moorhead, MN 56560 PROPERTY SIZE: 5.84 acres FORMER USE: Petroleum filling station, dry cleaner, automotive repair shop, electric motor manufacturing facility, foundry, paint shop CURRENT USES: Mixed-use development including housing, commercial space, and underground parking; an outdoor bridgehead plaza with access to walking and biking trails EPA GRANT RECIPIENT: The City of Moorhead received a $400,000 Brownfields Assessment Grant in 2004. PROJECT PARTNERS: Sterling Development Group Four, LLC; MBA Architects; Minnesota Department of Employment & Economic Development; Minnesota Dry Cleaners Fund; Minnesota Petrofund MINNESOTA i Moorhead For additional data and geographic information for this and other Brownfields Grants, please visit EPA's: Envirofacts - www.epa.gov/enviro/html/bms/bms query.html Enviromapper - www.epa.gov/enviro/bf PROJECT BACKGROUND: Completed in 2004, the Main Avenue Bridge, spanning the Red River of the North, connects Fargo, North Dakota to the Central City Corridor of Moorhead, Minnesota. At that time, many structures in the Central City Corridor were more than 100 years old and abandoned or underutilized. Several commercial tenants occupied buildings with crumbling foundations, while other buildings had been left idle. Two buildings had also been damaged by fire, one severely enough to be designated unsafe by the fire department. The city acquired this property and several others in 2004, as part of a planned Corridor-wide revitalization project. As part of the project, the city also wanted to repair and preserve two historic buildings in the Corridor that contained usable commercial and residential space. Area residents suspected that a former petroleum filling station and former foundry that once operated in the Corridor had released contaminants that remained in the soil. Using an EPA Brownfields grant, an area-wide assessment of the Corridor was conducted in 2004, revealing petroleum and volatile organic compounds (VOCs) in soil and ground water and lead-based paint and asbestos in several of the aging buildings. KEY ACCOMPLISHMENTS: • Removed more than 12,000 cubic yards of contaminated soil • Cleanup and redevelopment helped to retain nine full-time and 29 part-time jobs • Constructed 69 new apartments • To date, leveraged a total of $21 million for revitalization OUTCOME: During the spring and summer of 2004, asbestos, lead-based paint, and other hazardous materials were addressed in several buildings in the Central City Corridor, which were then demolished to make way for a new, modern downtown. The city applied for and received grants from the Minnesota Department of Employment & Economic Development, the Minnesota Dry Cleaners Fund, and the Minnesota Petrofund to help pay for the cleanup. A developer invested $ 18 million to redevelop the area in five phases. The first phase, completed in the Spring of 2005, includes a mixed-use structure with three commercial spaces and 17 apartments, all of which are occupied. Phase II added a second mixed-use structure and included renovations of the Corridor's two historic structures, preserving them for reuse. In the Fall of 2006, a beautiful outdoor bridgehead plaza was completed at the base of the new Main Avenue Bridge, allowing pedestrians access to the river and to walking and bike trails. The most recent completion is Phase III, which includes a parking ramp for 135 cars and a 30-unit apartment building with underground parking. Redevelopment of the Central City Corridor has been very successful, and the developer will continue phasing in new structures. This new gateway to Moorhead welcomes travelers with a beautifully renovated, pedestrian-friendly downtown. The new Bridgehead Plaza. FOR MORE INFORMATION: Visit the EPA Brownfields Web site at http://www.epa.gov/brownfields/ or call EPA Region 5 at (312) 353-2000 ------- |