State grant moves along possible development of Bemidji rail corridor

BEMIDJI — A YMCA facility is that much closer to coming to Bemidji with a successful grant application to the Minnesota Department of Employment and Economic Development.

Bemidji Mayor Jorge Prince announced the award of a $589,926 redevelopment grant on his public Facebook page, noting “there is much work yet to be done before this project is a certainty.”

This is the first of two DEED grants the city is pursuing for the corridor, with DEED’s environmental cleanup grant application deadline on Nov. 1.

Greater Bemidji, a local economic development nonprofit, is coordinating the development of the city-owned rail corridor, a parcel that is known to be contaminated from historical industrial use. After Sanford Health withdrew its plan to build a wellness complex on the site last year, Greater Bemidji found a new partner to keep the project going with the Fargo-based YMCA of Cass and Clay Counties.

Beyond the contamination, the site has minimal infrastructure in place. But an analysis by the St. Paul Port Authority, an entity that specializes in transforming brownfield sites, suggested the rail corridor can support a wellness complex as well as other multi-use buildings.

Greater Bemidji Executive Director Dave Hengel wrote in a July 2024 blog post that the Minnesota Pollution Control Agency approved the environmental cleanup plan for the project. However, they still need to meet a $7 million fundraising goal.

"Overall, progress on the YMCA and rail corridor redevelopment has been swift. Our target is to have the site ready for development by next summer. Provided we’re able to raise the remaining funds, the YMCA will be set to break ground shortly thereafter," Hengel wrote.

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Greater Bemidji

The “rail corridor” is about 13 acres in an area next to downtown, with numerous ideas proposed for its development over the years. These included affordable housing and market-rate condos. The City Council created a $2 million tax-increment financing district in 2019 for its eventual development.

The city purchased the parcel from the BNSF railroad in 2002, and the land has traditionally been used by city crews as snow storage after plowing the city streets.