Much has been made about the likely costs of pollution clean-up at the future St. Paul Saints stadium in Lowertown and the current St. Paul Saints stadium on Energy Park Drive, properties that are swapping ownership in advance of redevelopment. Those clean-up costs aren’t cheap — the St. Paul Port Authority is estimating $3 million to $7 million at Midway Stadium, and the city of St. Paul has added $6.2 million to its estimates in Lowertown.
But those aren’t the only projects that have run into somewhat more complicated issues underground than previously anticipated. Episcopal Homes, which is building senior housing on the former site of Porky’s Drive-in at Fairview and University avenues in St. Paul, recently halted construction after coming across an underground storage tank in an area that had been previously sampled for contaminants.
Likewise, the elaborate Johnson Boat Works redevelopment project in White Bear Lake — better described here — has also uncovered some additional environmental contamination which needs to be cleared up before construction moves forward next to the lake. Foundry slag had been used as fill on the site, leaving some heavy metals in the soil.
Facing a tight timeline on state and Met Council construction grants, the city is asking for additional funds to cover trucking and soil tests.
On Tuesday, the Ramsey County Board of Commissioners met as the Housing and Redevelopment Authority and approved funds from the county’s Environmental Response Fund for both projects — $138,000 for Johnson Boat Works and $71,000 for Episcopal Homes.
Officials with the Johnson Boat Works also gave the board a short update on the project.