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At last, TCAAP site ready for development <br />By: Brian Johnson November 16, 2015 3:12 pm 0 <br />Minnesota’s biggest Superfund site is finally fit for new development, now that environmental <br />cleanup of the 427-acre former Twin Cities Army Ammunition Plant site in Arden Hills is a <br />wrap. <br />Ramsey County officials on Friday announced the completion of environmental cleanup and <br />clearing of the sprawling former U.S. Army property, which is in the northeast quadrant of <br />Interstate 35W and Highway 96. <br />The milestone comes three years after the county agreed to buy the heavily polluted property <br />from the federal government in hopes of revitalizing the site and getting it back on the tax rolls. <br />The county paid $28.5 million for the land, which includes the $22.5 million cleanup cost. <br />City and county officials have targeted the site for new development for decades. The site has <br />been off the tax rolls since 1941, and is part of a larger 2,300-acre TCAAP site that also includes <br />a U.S. Army Training Center, a trail and civic buildings. <br />The federal government acquired the site in 1941 for small arms ammunition production. At its <br />peak, 26,000 people worked at TCAAP before ammunitions operations ceased in 1976, <br />according to the city of Arden Hills website. <br />The site was placed on the Superfund list in 1983. Four years later, the U.S. Army began cleanup <br />work with oversight from the Minnesota Pollution Control Agency and the U.S. Environmental <br />Protection Agency, according to the city of Arden Hills website. <br />The land was polluted with an array of contaminants, from PCB-contaminated soil to lead and <br />chlorinated solvents. <br />“I think a lot of people thought that the site would never get cleaned up,” said Heather <br />Worthington, deputy county manager for Ramsey County. <br />The end of environmental cleanup sets the stage for a redevelopment plan, known as Rice Creek <br />Commons, which includes residential, commercial and office uses. <br />Redevelopment proposals have come and gone, with ill-fated plans ranging from a proposed <br />Ryan Cos. US Inc. mixed-used development to a new Minnesota Vikings stadium. <br />Pollution has always been an obstacle. Between the cost of cleaning up the land and putting in <br />the necessary infrastructure, private developers couldn’t make the numbers work, Worthington <br />said.