EPA leader's St. Cloud visit cites City Hall, old Tech in touting grant funding

ST. CLOUD — Midday Monday, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency administrator stood in the dark auditorium of the former Tech High School. Why? It's a little about what it is, and a lot about what it could be.

Andrew Wheeler, head of the EPA and member of President Donald Trump's Cabinet, stopped in St. Cloud to highlight three locations that have benefitted from the EPA Brownfields Assessment Grant program, which aims to help communities clean up and reuse contaminated properties.

Monday's tour highlighted the former Technical High School at 233-12th Ave. S as well as City Hall at 400 Second St. S and a 6-acre site near Cooper Avenue and Division Street. Between them, work on these three sites used approximately $143,000 of $400,000 awarded from the EPA in 2016 for its Brownfields Assessment Program. The remaining funding was allocated to other projects in the city.

Brownfields Assessment Grants can be used for planning, environmental assessments and community outreach.

The former Tech High School will become the new City Hall. The city intended to move in this year, but the COVID-19 pandemic pushed the timeline back a year, Mayor Dave Kleis said during the tour. 

At the City Hall site, funding was used to assess conditions in need of remediation or removal during redevelopment, according to information provided by the EPA.

In the case of Tech High School, the money was used for Environmental Site Assessments to give the city a good idea of the cleanup needs for an old building.

"We really do have a good handle on what we need to do now," Community Development Director Matt Glaesman said of the former high school site.

Wheeler said one reason he stopped in St. Cloud as part of his time in Minnesota is the city's use of Brownfields funding for repurposing existing buildings. 

"I love the aspect of turning an older building, reusing it and not tearing it down, and so that was one of the reasons I wanted to come here today because I knew they were doing that with the old school, turning it into the new City Hall," Wheeler said.

The current City Hall property is earmarked for redevelopment. The property would be combined with that of the former Methodist Church to the south for a redevelopment project to build multi-use office and commercial facilities. The church will likely be demolished "within months," Kleis said.

"There's a lot of interest in this site for economic development," Kleis said. 

The Division Street-and-Cooper Avenue site is primed for redevelopment as well after an electrical substation, which Kleis said was hindering redevelopment, was removed. 

"No developer would ever add that cost to remove it," he said.

It is considered a catalyst site, or an underutilized space where development could significantly impact the Division Street corridor. Brownfields funding was used to assess the buildings and soil of the 10 properties and the substation that previously stood there, Glaesman said.

Some of the St. Cloud sites utilizing Brownfields grants, including City Hall, also fall inside opportunity zones — low-income areas where investors can be eligible for economic development incentives  — which Kleis said work together well and serves as an asset for the city.

"I will use this (trip to St. Cloud) to talk to other communities around the country about what they can use Brownfields money for and how they can partner on the opportunity zones as well," Wheeler said.

Wheeler's stop in St. Cloud was one of a handful in the state. While in Minnesota, he also announced that the EPA awarded $731,893 to the Minnesota Pollution Control Agency's Brownfields Program. Over the past five years, more than $7 million in Brownfields grants have been awarded to 11 communities and Minnesota state agencies, according to press release from the EPA.

"Ultimately what our Brownfields money really brings to bear … is the courage to invest. A lot of times it's the unknowns, the things that stand in the way of development," said Kurt Thiede, EPA regional administrator overseeing Minnesota.

Sarah Kocher is the business reporter for the St. Cloud Times. Reach her at 320-255-8799 or skocher@stcloudtimes.com. Follow her on Twitter @SarahAKocher.

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