ST. PAUL – The City of Battle Lake is receiving a $174,900 state grant to help fund a Hatchery Row project as one of only seven Minnesota cities recently issued a Redevelopment Grant Program award.
The Redevelopment Grant Program is administered by the Minnesota Department of Employment and Economic Development. It helps communities with the costs of redeveloping blighted industrial, residential, or commercial sites and putting land back into productive use.
In the case of Battle Lake, the city’s recently approved grant is set to aid a transformative development of Hatchery Row, including up to 15,000 square feet of needed commercial space and as many as 20 residential units amid an area housing shortage.
State Rep. Jordan Rasmusson, R-Fergus Falls, said he congratulates Battle Lake for earning this grant. He personally briefed DEED Commissioner Steve Grove on the project to win his support for the funding.
“This project will continue the momentum of previous successes resulting in increased commercial traffic and the need for additional space,” Rasmusson wrote in a letter to Grove. “The project gets its name from an area of Battle Lake that housed agricultural/industrial buildings but have become obsolete, dilapidated, and unsightly. This location is a perfect location for redevelopment of future businesses.”
In a congratulatory letter to Battle Lake Mayor Richard Bullard, Grove said competition for program dollars is strong and wrote:
“The Redevelopment Grant Program continues to be a very popular program that is over-subscribed with funding requests. We are very proud of this program and the positive effects it has on communities. We are pleased to partner with our grantees to revitalize areas and provide opportunities for job creation and tax base increases that help our communities and state thrive.”
DEED’s Redevelopment Grants pay up to half of redevelopment costs for a qualifying site, with a 50-percent local match. Eligible applicants are cities, counties, port authorities, housing and redevelopment authorities, and economic development authorities.
Grants can pay for land acquisition, demolition, infrastructure improvements, soil stabilization when in-fill is required, ponding or other environmental infrastructure and adaptive reuse of buildings, including remedial activities at sites where a subsequent redevelopment will occur.
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