(ABC 6 News) — On Tuesday, the Minnesota Department of Employment and Economic Development announced that the City of Rochester would be receiving $366,288 for contamination cleanup.

The grant is part of a nearly $7 million program going towards 11 different communities to assess and clean up contaminated sites for private and public development.

Rochester’s grant is going towards the cleanup of Civic Center North, which is contaminated with “petroleum and other contaminants.”

It’s called a brownfield.

They’re usually the sites of businesses that work with a lot of chemicals – like gas stations and dry cleaners.

“Over the course of time, those products might leak through floors or have a leaking tank,” says Pam Anderson, director of the Remediation Division at the Minnesota Pollution Control Agency. “And then they end up in our ground in either the soil or in the water.”

Then, for whatever reason, they become abandoned.

“A lot of them were contaminated back before there were laws saying what you could and couldn’t do as far as disposal,” says Kristin Lukes.

Lukes is the director of the Brownfields and Redevelopment Unit at DEED, and was involved in the process of selecting which sites across Minnesota received the funding.

This site in particular was once a metal stamping facility that opened in 1950, manufacturing medical supplies like plastic needles and beside thermometer holders.

However, just because that business may have contributed to this site’s contamination, it doesn’t mean the site is dangerous in its current state.

“A lot of the sites, and this one probably is similar,” said Lukes,” where if the contamination is in the soil and as long as you’re not digging in the soil or touching that contamination, it’s fine where it is.”

However, the city of Rochester has had its eye on the site for a while, and wants to do something with it.

DEED says the 1.8-acre site will be redeveloped into two apartment buildings, one at market rate and the other for affordable housing.

“Back in late 2021 is when the council looked at some of the properties they owned and see if they could be repurposed to help them meet some of their priorities,” said Brent Svenby, a senior administrative analyst for the city. “One of them was housing.”

The goal?

To not only get a nasty spot finally cleaned up, but help bring vibrancy to downtown.

“It’s close to downtown, right along the river,” said Svenby. “I think it’s a great opportunity for the city and it will also bring those people downtown to shop in our retail stores and visit the restaurants.”

The nature of the funding requires the developer to get started on the project by the end of this year.

After that, Svenby says it’ll likely be about two years before the new apartments are completed.