Panel weighs cleanup grant for Surly site

A Metropolitan Council committee will consider on Monday whether to recommend a half-million-dollar grant to clean up a polluted industrial site where the Surly Brewing Co. wants to build a new facility.

The 8.3-acre parcel is in Minneapolis near the Central Corridor light rail line, east of the University of Minnesota. It is polluted with lead, arsenic, mercury, asbestos and other contaminants.

The city is seeking a total of $2.5 million in cleanup grants from the Met Council, Hennepin County and the state of Minnesota.

Met Council staff has recommended approving almost the entire $550,000 requested from its Tax Base Revitalization Account. Should the committee agree, the full council will vote on the funding next month.

Surly plans to invest $20 million to build a brewery, bar, event center and beer garden on the site. It successfully lobbied the Legislature last year to legalize so-called brewery taprooms.

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