WINONA, Minn. – A $601,000 state grant has been awarded the Winona Port Authority to clean up industrial contamination at the site of a proposed apartment-hotel on the Levee downtown. The award was the latest signal that the Port Authority is committed to a long-discussed apartment-hotel at 60 Main Street. In the 19th century the 1.6-acre site was occupied by sawmills, rail yards and coal piles — and contaminated. Steve Grove, the state economic development director in St. Paul, said that contaminant removal will create 66 jobs. Long term, Grove said, the apartment-hotel complex will increase Winona’s tax base by $225,000 and leverage $39 million of private investment. The Port Authority promised to match the $601,000 grant. The grant application documents list a six-story 52-unit apartment building with 2,100 square feet of retail space and a five-story, 68-room hotel with event space.
