This 122-acre former Superfund site is currently the second largest redevelopment project in Minnesota’s history next to the Mall of America site. Northern Stacks was once home to the Naval Industrial Ordnance Plant (NIROP) a gun turret producer that opened during World War II and employed more than 12,000 people at its peak.
Solvents, paints and other hazardous chemicals used during the 70 years of production were sometimes disposed of on-site. The contamination caused by this left a huge task of investigation and cleanup to allow redevelopment.
Fridley Land LLC, the owner of the project, secured funding to assist with the environmental cleanup from both public and private sectors on this more than $125 million redevelopment project, including from the City of Fridley, the Metropolitan Council and the State of Minnesota Department of Employment and Economic Development. Groundbreaking on this project took place in May 2014.
The original smoke stacks located on the site will remain intact. They are marked with six stars that were awarded by the Navy over the years honoring the facility with awards of excellence. The stacks and related Boiler Room will be preserved and likely turned into a museum.
Braun Intertec performed Environmental Site Assessments for the entire site, and was retained to perform remedial investigation, response action planning and cleanup related to soil and soil vapor. We performed hazardous materials assessments, abatement testing, provided specifications for demolition work, and have contracted directly for abatement, demolition and soil correction work in order to create a pad ready site. Braun Intertec is also providing geotechnical and construction materials testing for the development buildings.
One large challenge on the project was demolishing most of the large main building on-site while keeping BAE Systems, a British defense, security and aerospace company as an operating tenant within the remaining building. In addition, Braun Intertec has been working with the Navy to modify the Navy’s groundwater treatment system also located on-site.
The four-phase project is anticipated to take three to four years to complete and is expected to create 3,000 jobs and 10 to 12 new industrial facilities, supporting growth for many communities.
In 2015, Finance and Commerce recognized Northern Stacks as aTop Project.
