RENOVATION STORY
475 OLD HIGHWAY 8
NEW BRIGHTON, MN
2020
QUICK FACTS
Address: 475 Old Highway 8
Built: Circa 1970's-80's
Building size: Approximately 60,000 SF
Prior uses: Heavy industrial, heavy manufacturing, outdoor storage, office
Grant support: Minnesota Department of Employment and Economic Development (DEED) Contamination Clean-up Grant Program awarded a grant of $82,170 for vapor mitigation. Ramsey County, through their Environmental Response Fund, awarded a grant of $212,435 for metals abatement and vapor mitigation. The Metropolitan Council, through their Tax Base Revitalization Account, awarded a grant of $400,000 for lead, other metals and asbestos-containing materials (ACM) abatement
Awards: Minnesota Brownfields ReScape Award 2022 and Finance & Commerce Top Projects of 2021
Purchased by Hillcrest Development, LLLP in December of 2019, this approximately 60,000 square foot, three-building property was shuttered in 2016. Prior uses of the property caused significant contamination at the Property; the Property being vacant and neglected, caused serious physical damage to the Building’s infrastructure and systems. Hillcrest Development, in partnership with the City of New Brighton, were able to secure key sources of grant funding to alleviate the environmental burdens of the buildings, and spark a redevelopment of the property.
Improvements to the physical exterior of Old Highway 8 benefitted the community of New Brighton and the surrounding neighborhood as well. By creating an inviting, shared main entrance with attractive signage, adding upgraded and welcoming lighting, planting native, pollinator-friendly landscaping, and making significant parking-lot, walkway and sidewalk improvements, and installing a bike rack onsite for employees and visitors,
increased desirability to access the property as a pedestrian and/or transit user.
The Highway 8 Business Center project is expected to bring an estimated 90 NEW jobs to the City of New Brighton and to the Old Highway 8 Corridor, which will contribute significantly to the economic development of the City because the repurposed infrastructure will offer flexible, growth-oriented, small and large spaces for companies to lease, which will help support new and existing locally owned and entrepreneurial businesses for generations to come.