COHASSET — Cohasset is one of four cities receiving a Community Energy Transition grant from the Minnesota Department of Employment and Economic Development, the agency announced Monday, April 28.
The city was awarded $750,000 to support site remediation and redevelopment prep work, including demolition and clean-up, plus grading and excavation for road construction and utility infrastructure installation for the Blackwater Banks development project.
Two years ago, Cohasset announced its plans to convert the old Cohasset Lumber Mill site on the banks of the Mississippi into a mixed-use downtown area.
Cohasset Mayor Josh Casper told KAXE the plan is to have a hotel, some businesses and apartments and a fieldhouse/arena with a sheet of ice.
The city applied for the grant before Minnesota Power announced it would convert the coal-powered Boswell Energy Center to natural gas. But there are still a lot of unknowns surrounding the change, and Casper said the project is still needed.
“We want to bring more business into the area; we want to get more development into the area," he said. "We need more housing in the area to have people to work at these new businesses, and we just want to see the city grow.”
The timeline for the project is still unclear. The original developer backed out due to timing and interest rates, Casper said, noting that because he's only been mayor since January, he's still getting caught up on everything.
"But the city is definitely still wanting to move forward with it," he added.
Right now, it is preparing a request for proposal to send to developers to get an anchor tenant that will attract other developers.
Casper said Cohasset’s glad to be near Grand Rapids but doesn’t want to be viewed as just a suburb.
"We want to be our own community, which we obviously are," he said. "But we want to be looked at more of a destination, of Cohasset is a place to go to also, rather than you're just driving through it on the way to and from Grand Rapids."
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