Minneapolis could vote as early as Thursday on a demolition contract for the controversial Roof Depot warehouse in the East Phillips neighborhood.
Minneapolis to consider Roof Depot demolition contract
The City Council could vote as early as Thursday to remove controversial warehouse
For the Minnesota Star Tribune
January 24, 2023 at 12:30AM
The proposed $1.6 million deal with Rachel Contracting would tear the structure down. The work would be part of a project that has been the focus of lawsuits, and numerous neighborhood and city meetings.
Minneapolis will expand its Public Works facility at 1911 E. 26th St. with more offices, a storage yard for vehicles and equipment, a diesel fueling station and employee parking ramp. It spent nearly $7 million to buy the adjacent Roof Depot property.
The City Council's Policy and Government Oversight Committee on Monday forwarded the proposal to the full City Council without recommendation. The council could vote on the contract at its Thursday meeting.
Council Member Jason Chavez, who represents East Phillips, and Vice Chair Robin Wonsley voted against advancing the motion.
"I hope that if we are not able to stop the demolition today that my community still has a say on these resources we deserve and need," Chavez said.
The Roof Depot site has pitted the city in need of a new water distribution and maintenance facility against environmental activists, who have proposed the site be preserved for an urban farm and community resource hub.
"We're trying to find a balance between what the city needs and a balance in how we can reverse the future of the neighborhood," said Dean Dovolis, president of the East Phillips Neighborhood Institute, a group of residents, environmental activists and potential investors.
Mayor Jacob Frey and several City Council members earlier proposed the city and neighborhood activists share the 8.5-acre Roof Depot site in a development plan including the new Public Works water yard, an urban farm and a job training center prioritizing neighborhood residents.
The Roof Depot sits on top of a former federal Superfund site that was contaminated with arsenic. In 2011, the EPA concluded a $25 million project to dig up and replace contaminated soil. Residents and activists fear demolishing the warehouse could stir up possible arsenic contamination beneath the building.
A lawsuit filed by EPNI against the city of Minneapolis to halt the project is still pending.
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