moorhead city council

The MCCARA Industrial Park borders Interstate 94 on the north and 34th Street South on the west.

Moorhead has received a $2 million grant from the Minnesota Department of Employment and Economic Development to open up eight more two-acre building sites in its thriving MCCARA Industrial Park.

Economic development consultant Derrick LaPoint told the Moorhead City Council Monday that the grant – the largest offered under MNDEED’s Business Development Public Infrastructure Program – is a response to the success and “obvious demand” for industrial sites over recent years.

The grant, he told council members, is intended to focus on utilities and infrastructure for the expansion. “That amount will come off the bottom line, reducing the assessment on the properties,” he explained. “It helps insure we’ll have lots ready to go at a great price.”

Today only two lots with shovel-ready status remain in the 240-acre park, both rail lots on the interior of the industrial park. In the past two and one-half months, four projects have been approved by the City Council: Expansion of Chad’s Welding LLC along Interstate 94 on the park’s easternmost edge; expansion of another local business, Four Seasons Handyman, in the southeast corner; a 20-acre development by Krueger Trucking on the south side; and a project by MegaStorage USA bordering I-94.

Council member Deb White responded, “Thinking back a few years, things were pretty slow in the industrial park. It’s good to see it heating up.” She added, “Industrial growth like this takes some of the tax pressure off residential properties.”