Mankato receives state funding for two contamination cleanup sites

MANKATO, Minn. (KEYC) - The Minnesota Department of Employment and Economic Development announced awards of over $4 million for 11 cities.

Mankato will get two of those grants, totaling more than $315,000.

The grants are a part of the Contamination Cleanup Program. One of the locations in Mankato is the Burton Building. A $175,132 grant was awarded by DEED for their 1.2-acre site which has been used for a variety of things like a paint shop, battery shop, and a service garage. The city is turning the space into two six-story multi-use buildings with 114 market-rate apartments.

“If you are going to build something on a site that has never been developed there’s usually contamination that needs to be remediated and there is a lot higher cost to do that. So it is really helpful to have this program to do that for these projects,” said Courtney Kramlinger, economic development specialist for the City of Mankato.

The other site is the Lewis Lofts which will include a four-story building with 64 united of affordable housing for seniors. DEED has awarded $140,425 for this project. Historically, this site has been used as a public works site.

“Based on those past uses there’s some contamination that needs to be remediated, so the grant is going to cover 75% of the cost to remove that contaminated soil and then put in new clean soil on the site so that it can be redeveloped,” Kramlinger said. “It also includes some environmental oversight and reporting to the NPCA.”

Clean-up is expected to create 22 jobs and is slated to begin either late this year or early next year with the completion of the projects in 2023.

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