Development deal means 3,800 housing units, carbon-free electricity for St. Paul Ford site
November 11, 2019
By: Frederick Melo, Twin Cities Pioneer Press
Article Excerpt:
The Ryan Cos. has reached a development agreement with the city of St. Paul that will bring 3,800 units of housing, the largest urban solar array in the state and 100 percent of electricity from renewable or carbon-free sources to the vacant Ford Motor Co. site.
The plan — which must be approved by the city council — relies on $53 million in city tax increment financing.
That’s a type of public investment that recycles new property taxes generated at the site to fund improvements at the same location — public infrastructure such as utilities, parks and water features across 40 future blocks of real estate development on bluffs overlooking the Mississippi River in the city’s Highland Park neighborhood.