Work Begins Soon On $1 Billion Development of Old Ford site

ST. PAUL (AP) -- A developer says work on a $1 billion redevelopment of the old Ford assembly plant in St. Paul will begin early next year.

Ryan Companies will pay $61 million for the 122-acre site on a bluff above the Mississippi River in the Highland Park neighborhood. It plans a mix of office, retail, and housing on the site where Ford shuttered its plant in 2011.

Developer Mike Ryan expects it will be three years before the first residents are able to move into the area and five years before the infrastructure and public amenities are completed.

Ford demolished the plant and worked extensively on cleaning up pollution left by nearly a century of industrial production.