Auction begins for smaller Arden Hills ammunition plant property

An auction to sell a 62-acre parcel of the former Twin Cities Army Ammunition Plant in Arden Hills started Monday, signaling potential future development at the long-abandoned site.

The parcel is one piece of what was a sprawling, 2,370-acre U.S. Army property used during World War II, according to Arden Hills Mayor David Grant. Another part of that property is the 427-acre parcel now referred to as Rice Creek Commons, a former Superfund site that was at the center of years of bickering between the city and Ramsey County over how development should proceed.

The county has proposed as many as 2,500 houses and apartments on the larger site. The fate of that parcel could come into sharper focus this summer: In late April, the county issued a request for development proposals for a 40-acre section of the property along Interstate 35.

Grant said the auction of the nearby 62-acre parcel, currently owned by the federal government, is still significant.

"Sixty-two acres for a fully built-out community is a sizable chunk of property," he said.

The parcel up for auction was used to test tracer rounds manufactured at the nearby ammunition plant during the war, Grant said. While there has been no live fire there for decades, he guessed it will likely require some remediation.

There are about 50 buildings on the site, according to documents released as part of the auction, though many have been abandoned since the 1950s and are in disrepair, and many contain asbestos and lead paint.

Arden Hills leaders say they hope a business will buy the property. Grant and City Administrator David Perrault said the city would work with a developer to change the site's zoned use from conservation land to a commercial or industrial use.

The property sits just north of Interstate 694 and is less than a mile from Interstate 35W. A road will connect the parcel to nearby County Road I, Grant said, though the parcel has little other infrastructure.

The U.S. Government Services Administration is running the auction for the site, and the federal government will get the proceeds. The starting bid is $100,000 and all bidders are required to put down a $50,000 deposit.

The end date of the auction has not been set, but Grant and Perrault guessed bids would be accepted for the next four to six weeks.