City Of Brainerd Receives Rehab Grant

The city of Brainerd was awarded a grant Tuesday to help boost housing development in the downtown area.

The grant was awarded by the Small Businesses Development Program and is valued up to nearly $640,000. It will be used to refurbish the Koop building in downtown Brainerd, adding apartments and other housing units.

“The grant is going to be used for downtown Brainerd in one building, basically, and that’s the Koop Building, which is across the street from us, for some apartment work and for some other work to be done on it, said Brainerd Mayor Ed Menk. “Then, the balance will be used in Northeast from Gillis Avenue over to Mill Avenue, from Washington Street to, I believe, north to 8th Street.

The grant is part of a long-term plan by the city to revitalize downtown Brainerd and to attract more businesses and excitement downtown. It will take a few months, but downtown property owners will soon be able to submit applications to take advantage of the grant.

“Downtown, we’ve seen a number of the apartments rehabbed a number of buildings got new storefronts on them, and it really helps the total picture of the area,” Menk added.

The city received a similar grant two years ago and has recently rehabbed over 40 apartments throughout the downtown area.