The Ford Twin Cities Assembly plant opened up back in 1925, right along the Mississippi River as a rather genius piece of decision making by FoMoCo founder Henry Ford. The plant was able to generate its own electrification via an adjacent hydroelectric dam, and wound up building a variety of vehicles over many ensuing years. The Twin Cities Assembly plant switched to truck-only production in 1978, and subsequently built Ford Ranger pickups up until the point that it closed in 2011. However, Ford still owns the 135-acre property, though it has been embroiled in controversy for some time now.
For a full decade, the city of St. Paul and its partners discussed potential redevelopment of what’s known as the “Ford Site,” as well as studying its environmental impacts before approving a final plan some years ago. The concept is to redevelop that land to create a connected, livable, mixed-used neighborhood with clean technologies and energy, as well as one that supports public transit, walking, and biking, along with affordable housing. Much of that work has been completed, but as Minnpost recently reported, the Ford Site is still conjuring up lots of controversy today.
Economic issues stemming from the pandemic and rent control policies imposed by the city of St. Paul have caused several construction delays over the past few years, all while Ryan Companies – which is in charge of developing the property – continues to seek variances to building codes to make it happen. The city has recommended making these changes, but there are questions regarding their legality, too.
Ultimately, it seems quite possible that the development will feature single-story commercial buildings rather than the four- or five-story units that were originally planned and rendered to be built, something like a typical strip mall – which isn’t going over well with city planners, as one might imagine. It remains to be seen what this old Ford site will ultimately become, but residents have been complaining about the re-development essentially since it began.
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Taking years to make a decision? In the real world tenants would be talking about lease renewals.
The plant also sat atop a large deposit of pure white sand for glass production. Henry had a tunnel allowing transfer of vehicles to the Mississippi river for loading onto barges in case there was a tiff with the rail road. Amazing history, the power turbines had a plaque announcing that the machines were designed by Henry Ford and George Westinghouse. Twin cities was my favourite assignment.