City Council approves plan of re-purposing former Hamm’s Brewery site in St. Paul

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The. St. Paul Housing and Redevelopment Authority has unanimously voted to repurpose the old Hamm’s Brewery site east of the downtown area.

JB Vang, a local developer, has a plan that calls for 259 family-friendly affordable housing units, 56,000 square feet of commercial space – including a marketplace inside the former brew house – as well as a green space, with a connecting path to Swede Hollow Park.

As previously reported by 5 EYEWITNESS NEWS, the site is located on Minnehaha Avenue East between Payne Avenue and Arcade Street.

The housing portion of the project is expected to cost more than $100 million.

“It’s housing – it’s economic development that will result in community wealth-building. Green space, bike-ped connections and the adaptive re-use of those beautiful old Hamm’s building,” said Jane Prince, a St. Paul City Council member. “It’s a multifaceted project that’s gonna do a lot of different things for the East side.”

As a minority-owned developer in St. Paul, Vang says he wants to give area businesses more opportunities to build equity and generational wealth.