SAHAN JOURNAL: Roof Depot activists win historic deal to control site from Minneapolis
Minnesota legislators award funding to clear the way for East Phillips to purchase a long-contested site from the city and implement a vision for environmental justice.
by Andrew Hazzard - May 22, 2023
Residents of Minneapolis’ diverse and historically polluted East Phillips neighborhood won a historic victory Saturday when the city agreed to sell the long-contested Roof Depot site to an organization that hopes to create an indoor urban farm, housing, and community hub.
The city will sell the Roof Depot site, a former Sears warehouse that was slated to become a Minneapolis public works campus, to the East Phillips Neighborhood Institute for $3.7 million, officials confirmed this weekend. The deal was reached among the city, institute members, and lawmakers representing Minneapolis who fought to award $6.5 million to the city this year intended to cover costs associated with the public works campus planning.
“We are excited,” said Cassie Holmes, an institute board member and longtime resident of East Phillips. “I imagined we’d be in this position; I just didn’t think it would take this long.”