A grant of more than $600,000 will be used to clean-up contamination at the 5th Avenue Live site near St. Cloud State University. The Minnesota Department of Employment and Economic Development awarded the grant to the St. Cloud Housing and Redevelopment Authority. The funds will be used to clean up the three-acre site that is contaminated with diesel range organics, poly-nuclear aromatic hydrocarbons, lead, mercury, selenium and arsenic.

The former site of Coborn’s grocery store and residential homes is being developed into a multi-use building containing 130 units of student housing, a St. Cloud State University welcome center and 19,800 square feet of commercial space. The project is expected to create 48 jobs and to generate more than $50,000 in new tax revenue for the city.

The entire grant amount is $608,422.  The funds were awarded under DEED’s clean-up grant program, which are awarded twice a year and account for about 75 percent of the statewide public funding used for reclaiming polluted sites.

St. Cloud State University and private developers are aiming to open the 5th Avenue Live site to students by August of 2010.