The City of Saint Paul strongly supports efforts to reinvest and strengthen neighborhoods and commercial areas by bringing needed regional and state funding resources to real estate development projects.

The following identifies funding sources for brownfields investigation and cleanup, transit-oriented development, design and development, and housing, and provides details on how to work with the City to apply for these funds.

Requirements and Process

For most of the programs below, the City of Saint Paul must sponsor the application for the applicant to be eligible to apply. A pre-submittal meeting with Marilyn Rosendahl and your assigned City of Saint Paul project manager (if any) is highly recommended.

After the initial pre-submission meeting, the applicant must provide the following:

  • Pre-application form (submitted online or completed Word document emailed to Marilyn Rosendahl)
  • A brief letter of interest
  • A completed Compliance Acknowledgement Letter
  • A site plan or location map
  • Proposed grant budget (submit the Excel worksheet as an electronic file to Marilyn Rosendahl) (for Livable Communities predevelopment and development grants only)

No fee is required for pre-application consideration.

Upon submission of the pre-application packet, a meeting between the applicant, City staff and the granting agency will be held to discuss the final application. In addition, leadership from the Department of Planning and Economic Development (PED) will review all pre-applications and determine the best project to move forward.

The selected projects must pay a nonrefundable fee upon submission of a final application to the granting agency ($750 for one application, $1,225 for more than one application for the same project).

Programs

Brownfields Grants

There are several grant programs that can assist developers and property owners to assess and/or cleanup properties with suspected or known environmental contamination. Each year the funders hold competitive grant cycles.

Granting Agency Grant Program Name City of Saint Paul
Pre-Application Deadline
Granting Agency Final Application Deadline
Metropolitan Council Tax Base Revitalization Account (TBRA) Grant March 15, 2023 |
Pre-Application
May 1, 2023
Metropolitan Council Seeding Equitable Environmental Development (SEED) Grant March 15, 2023 |
Pre-Application
May 1, 2023
Minnesota Department of Employment and Economic Development (DEED) Contamination Cleanup and Investigation (CCI) Grant March 15, 2023 |
Pre-Application
May 1, 2023
Ramsey County Environmental Response Fund (ERF) Grant * N/A N/A

*Nonprofit and for-profit organizations may apply for these funds from Ramsey County on their own but must obtain a letter of support from the City. Please contact Ramsey County staff to determine if funding is available.


Design and Development Grants

The following grants provide financial assistance for site design, acquisition and public infrastructure improvements.

Granting Agency Grant Program Name City of Saint Paul
Pre-Application Deadline
Granting Agency Final
Application Deadline
Metropolitan Council Predevelopment Grant May 17, 2023 |
Pre-Application
Predevelopment Grant Budget Tool
July 21, 2023
Minnesota Department of Employment and Economic Development (DEED) Redevelopment Grant December 30, 2022 |
Pre-Application
February 1, 2023
Metropolitan Council LCDA Development Grant May 19, 2023 |
Pre-Application
Development Grant Budget Tool
August 14, 2023

Transit-Oriented Development Grants

Metropolitan Council has developed grant programs to catalyze transit-oriented development within the region's transit corridors.

Funding Agency Grant Program Name City of Saint Paul
Pre-Application Deadline
Granting Agency Final
Application Deadline
Metropolitan Council TOD Development Grant May 19, 2023 |
Pre-Application
Development Grant Budget Tool
August 14, 2023

Last Edited: May 3, 2023