Neighborhood group secures funding for Roof Depot site
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Community activists in Minneapolis's East Phillips neighborhood have secured the funding they needed to buy the Roof Depot site, and the city has approved the sale.
The East Phillips Neighborhood Institute is buying the site from the City of Minneapolis. As part of the purchase agreement, EPNI agreed to pay $3.7 million, and to give the city proof that they have that money by November 7.
This week, the city confirmed that EPNI has the funds available.
Daniel Colten-Schmidt is the funding development manager at EPNI. He said that with the $3.7 million secured, EPNI has fulfilled the requirements needed for the purchase.
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“I was in great spirits,” he said. “It was a surreal moment.”
Colten-Schmidt said an individual donor has guaranteed the $3.7 million. The money is due to the city when EPNI closes the purchase.
The Roof Depot site will cost a total of $11.4 million. The rest is coming from the state Legislature, which approved $2 million to the project in its last session and committed to approve another $5.7 million in 2024.
EPNI expects to close on the site by July 2024. Now that they’ve committed their amount to the project, they’re waiting on the funding from the Legislature before they can officially buy it.
The deal to buy the Roof Depot site came after years of contention between the city and neighborhood residents and activists.
The city wanted to turn the site into a public works facility. Local advocates opposed the plan, arguing that a teardown of the building and conversion into a public works facility could increase pollution in the neighborhood.
The city was poised to break ground on the site in February. But after months of protests and court battles, the city agreed to sell the site with funding from the Legislature. The Legislature has also committed $4.5 million to the city for a new public works facility.
State Rep. Samantha Sencer-Mura (DFL-Minneapolis) was one of the members of the Minneapolis delegation that helped secure the funding.
“Today is a good day for the city of Minneapolis and for the residents of East Phillips,” she said in a press release from the city. “A project grounded in community, resiliency and sustainability is one step closer to coming to fruition. I look forward to continuing to champion this project at the Legislature to ensure additional funding is secured next session.”
EPNI is now raising money to turn the site into an urban farm and community center. Colten-Schmidt said that even with the $3.7 million secured, they’ll need to raise a lot more — somewhere in the tens of millions — over the course of the project’s development. They’re looking for grants and community investors to help make it happen.
“This is really just the first step in a long road to developing this project, and the fundraising team is working really, really hard to continue to make this dream a reality,” Colten-Schmidt said. “We are really excited about this project because it is a model for the way that community development can happen.”