MINNEAPOLIS — The dream of turning an abandoned south Minneapolis industrial site into an urban agricultural oasis has moved closer to reality, after neighbors and advocates met a deadline to raise $3.7 million for the project.
The City of Minneapolis Thursday formally accepted a East Phillips Neighborhood Institute's guarantee that the nonprofit agency does have that much money in hand. The city agreed to sell the former Roof Depot site to the EPNI for $11.4 million on the condition the neighborhood could raise $3.7 million by November 8.
The neighbors came up with the cash and provided the proof to the city in time.
"Those monies did not come from foundations or city agencies or state agencies. It was neighborhood residents that pulled together the $3.7 million," Dean Dovalis, the Minneapolis architect who has worked with the East Phillips group on the project, told KARE.
"Literally the community was the one that stood up for this project, saying we have the money. We’re proving it to you. Here's our wallet."
Neighborhood activists have been in a tug-of-war with the City of Minneapolis for the past eight years over the Roof Depot site, located at 28th Street East and Longfellow Avenue South. The city has a large public works yard located next door and had planned to raze the old warehouse buildings and construct a new hub for its Water Supply Services division.
Neighbors objected to the environmental impact of hundreds of trucks moving in an out of the 7.6-acre site if that became reality. Their alternative would feature an indoor farm, retail, community space, recording studios, deeply affordable housing units, and other uses.
"We're talking about creating this green agricultural hub with community services that will employ up to 500 to 600 people, really becomes a big game changer for the neighborhood."
The turning point for the urban indoor farm project came when the city's legislative delegation got on board with the idea and struck a bargain with city hall and the neighbors. As part of that deal the legislature pledged $2 million to the project, plus $4.5 million to help the city find a different site for the water services facility that had been planned for the Roof Depot.
The final piece of the financial puzzle depends on the 2024 Legislature passing a bipartisan public works construction bonding bill.
The Minneapolis delegation has requested $5.6 million in bonding for the Roof Depot project and is confident it will come through. That delegation includes House Majority Leader Jamie Long and Rep. Fue Lee, who chairs the bonding committee in the House.
"The deal we struck with the Minneapolis legislative delegation and EPNI back in May made clear that if the City’s water fund was repaid in full – both with specific funds from EPNI and from the State – we would sell the site," said Minneapolis Mayor Jacob Frey, in a statement released to the media Thursday.
"I’m happy this collaboration has seen progress, and we look forward to the Legislature securing the remaining funds next session."
However, the sale is not yet final because Minneapolis has yet to receive the State of Minnesota's $2 million "good-faith deposit" it promised to pay the city last spring.
According to the city, if all terms of the purchase agreement are met, the sale of the site will close on or before July 15, 2024.
The Minnesota Pollution Control Agency has included the Roof Depot site in it's Brownfield Redevelopment program. That qualifies the project's footprint for an environmental analysis to search for hidden pollution and, if necessary, take steps to remediate it.
"The perseverance of the neighborhood was intense because they knew if they lost this battle they could never get the building back again," Dovolis remarked.
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