Northern Metal Recycling, which runs the beleaguered junkyard situated on the western bank of the Mississippi River, is poised to move out of north Minneapolis. Landlord Atlas Land Co. has started taking offers for the 2800 Pacific St. site, triggering a bitter competition between rival visions to replace the former metal shredder with something that would benefit the historically Black community above St. Anthony Falls.
Since 2019, Ian Alexander of Riverfront Development Partners has eyed the Northern Metals site as a opportunity to remediate the industrial north Minneapolis riverfront into a place where residents could live and play. He convened an alliance of Black developers, general contractors and architects including TRI-Construction, Design by Melo and MN Renewable Now. Their aim: up to 1,400 units of housing — including affordable housing — as well as a blend of commercial and light industrial space and a signature boardwalk.
Alexander approached Minneapolis Park and Recreation staff to partner on his "Northside Riverwalk" concept.
The Park Board has long-term plans to acquire land along the river for its Above the Falls Regional Park. Staff members were eager for the opportunity to take a 100-foot-wide strip for a riverfront trail mirroring the trail system that would eventually extend from Boom Island to the Graco riverside plant and Sheridan Memorial Park along the east bank of the river.
Alexander said he proposed that the Park Board put $4 million toward a joint offer for the site.
"We told the Park Board that if you wanted that 100 feet, we're going to give it to you and we're going to remediate it for you," he said. "We approached them and we said this is the perfect public-private partnership."
For weeks Alexander and Michael Schroeder, the Park Board's assistant superintendent for planning, negotiated how to proceed.
"He and I talked nights and weekends about how to make this happen," Schroeder said. But in the end, they couldn't agree to terms.