The move affects 180 Alliant employees, most of whom will lose their jobs. From a development point of view, it enhances the possibility that the site, originally 2,370 acres, located east of Interstate 35W could be redeveloped. It's one of the largest undeveloped pieces of land in the Twin Cities area and one of the most polluted in the nation.
Alliant, a defense contractor headquartered in Edina, plans to vacate the two buildings on the site by May. The company has operated the plant for the US Army for years under a facilities contract. The Army declared the plant "excess" in 2002 and has given it to the General Services Administration to sell. The city of Arden Hills wants to buy it for housing and parks.
Alliant is moving the ammo work to the Allegheny Ballistics Laboratory, which is operated for the Army in Rocket Center, WV. The plant is the origin of what's now a 25-square-mile entry on the National Priorities List Site, a list of the most contaminated of the country's Superfund sites. The site suffers from the accumulated toxic or hard-to-dispose-of byproducts of armament production.
Alliant and the Army together have been trying to clean up the site. But the plant also is the subject of intense public interest because, dirty as it may be, the area contains streams and hills and is Ramsey County's largest undeveloped tract of land.
The National Guard now has 1,500 of the original 2,370 acres. The remaining land includes the buildings where Alliant actually makes the ammo. About 111 acres of that remainder are being transferred to the National Park Service, says Mike Fix, installation director for the US Army at the plant.
The city is talking with the General Services Administration about the sale, but hasn't made an official bid yet since the government is still appraising it and trying to figure out how much of a discount to give due to the anticipated clean up costs. The GSA may end up giving away the property to the city along with some clean up money.
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