EPA-560-F-08-293 brownfields September 2008

at-a-glance

Moorhead, MN 

CENTRAL CITY CORRIDOR Assessment Grant 

A New Gateway to Moorhead 

ADDRESS: 4th Street at the entrance to the Main Avenue Bridge, 

Moorhead, MN 56560 

PROPERTY SIZE: 5.84 acres 

FORMER USE: Petroleum filling station, dry cleaner, automotive repair shop, 

electric motor manufacturing facility, foundry, paint shop 

CURRENT USES: Mixed-use development including housing, commercial space, 

and underground parking; an outdoor bridgehead plaza with 

access to walking and biking trails 

The City of Moorhead 

received a $400,000 

Brownfields Assessment 

Grant in 2004. 

EPA GRANT RECIPIENT: PROJECT PARTNERS: 

Sterling Development Group Four, LLC; MBA Architects; 

Minnesota Department of Employment & Economic 

Development; Minnesota Dry Cleaners Fund; 

Minnesota Petrofund 

For additional data and geographic information for this and 

other Brownfields Grants, please visit EPA’s: 

Envirofacts - www.epa.gov/enviro/html/bms/bms_query.html 

Enviromapper - www.epa.gov/enviro/bf 

PROJECT BACKGROUND: 

Completed in 2004, the Main Avenue Bridge, spanning the Red River of the North, connects Fargo, North Dakota to the 

Central City Corridor of Moorhead, Minnesota. At that time, many structures in the Central City Corridor were more than 

100 years old and abandoned or underutilized. Several commercial tenants occupied buildings with crumbling foundations, 

while other buildings had been left idle. Two buildings had also been damaged by fire, one severely enough to be designated 

unsafe by the fire department. The city acquired this property and several others in 2004, as part of a planned Corridor-wide 

revitalization project. As part of the project, the city also wanted to repair and preserve two historic buildings in the Corridor 

that contained usable commercial and residential space. Area residents suspected that a former petroleum filling station 

and former foundry that once operated in the Corridor had released contaminants that remained in the soil. Using an EPA 

Brownfields grant, an area-wide assessment of the Corridor was conducted in 2004, revealing petroleum and volatile organic 

compounds (VOCs) in soil and ground water and lead-based paint and asbestos in several of the aging buildings. 

KEY ACCOMPLISHMENTS: 

• Removed more than 12,000 cubic yards of contaminated soil 

• Cleanup and redevelopment helped to retain nine full-time and 

29 part-time jobs 

• Constructed 69 new apartments 

• To date, leveraged a total of $21 million for revitalization 

OUTCOME: 

During the spring and summer of 2004, asbestos, lead-based paint, and other 

hazardous materials were addressed in several buildings in the Central City 

Corridor, which were then demolished to make way for a new, modern The new Bridgehead Plaza. 

downtown. The city applied for and received grants from the Minnesota 

Department of Employment & Economic Development, the Minnesota Dry Cleaners Fund, and the Minnesota Petrofund to 

help pay for the cleanup. A developer invested $18 million to redevelop the area in five phases. The first phase, completed in 

the Spring of 2005, includes a mixed-use structure with three commercial spaces and 17 apartments, all of which are occupied. 

Phase II added a second mixed-use structure and included renovations of the Corridor’s two historic structures, preserving 

them for reuse. In the Fall of 2006, a beautiful outdoor bridgehead plaza was completed at the base of the new Main Avenue 

Bridge, allowing pedestrians access to the river and to walking and bike trails. The most recent completion is Phase III, which 

includes a parking ramp for 135 cars and a 30-unit apartment building with underground parking. Redevelopment of the Central 

City Corridor has been very successful, and the developer will continue phasing in new structures. This new gateway to 

Moorhead welcomes travelers with a beautifully renovated, pedestrian-friendly downtown. 

FOR MORE INFORMATION: Visit the EPA Brownfields Web site at http://www.epa.gov/brownfields/ or call EPA Region 5 at (312) 353-2000