31 August 2023
A 62-acre parcel that was once used to manufacture and test ammunition in Arden Hills is up for auction.
A remnant of the Twin Cities Army Ammunition Plant is up for auction until next week, when the federal government awards the land to the highest bidder. One of the bidders is attempting to change life as we know it, or rather, death.
Life After Life, based in Brooklyn, N.Y., creates “living memorial parks” that help restore native ecosystems through the natural decomposition of human bodies, said Jacob Tannenbaum, founder and CEO of Life After Life.
“The space functions like a park; a lot of our famous parks used to be cemeteries,” Tannenbaum said.
The Life After Life Foundation encourages people who are at the end of their lives to have a natural burial, foregoing embalming and a traditional casket.
“When you embalm a body, you sterilize it and keep it and the soil free from any microorganisms,” Tannenbaum said. By eliminating the embalming process, bodies are able to decompose naturally like twigs and leaves and can be reabsorbed back into nature.
The parcel has been cleaned up to industrial standards, but Tannenbaum said the foundation would use phyto- and bioremediation to finish the job. Phytoremediation and bioremediation use plants and other naturally occurring substances to break down pollutants.
Life After Life is currently crowd-funding for the bid to garner interest in the local community, Tannenbaum said. If they secure the bid, he said the foundation will apply for grants and other sources of outside funding.
“This is our last chance to conserve one of the Twin Cities’ largest undeveloped parcels as park space,” the fundraising website reads.
If the bid is secured, this could be Life After Life’s first park in Minnesota, Tannenbaum said. The 3-year-old company says it is nearing the final stages on its first two parks, one in Michigan and the other in Pennsylvania.
Green burial moratorium
Even if the bid is secured, Life After Life could face challenges. This year, the Minnesota Legislature adopted a two-year moratorium on cemeteries launching new “green burial” services.
While the moratorium does not impact existing cemeteries where green burials are performed, new ones will have to wait until more research is done into the environmental and health impacts of green burials.
Aware of the moratorium, Tannenbaum said he believes it will be found to be in violation of religious freedoms and also believes there is no basis for the environmental concerns.
The TCAAP parcel on the auction block is located near the corner of County Road I and Fairview Avenue and is bordered by the Arden Hills Army Training Site on the north, east and south and the Rice Creek Corridor on the west.
Other TCAAP plans
Ramsey County purchased the bulk of the TCAAP property, 427 acres’ worth, in 2013 and earmarked it to be developed as Rice Creek Commons, a mix of residential and commercial neighborhoods surrounding a town center.
Development of the property hit more than a few snags as the county and the city disagreed on financing, density and affordable housing.
But Ramsey County Commissioner Nicole Frethem said the Joint Development Authority has been meeting since the beginning of the year and she is hopeful that they will be approaching a term agreement soon.
When asked if the county would bid on the 62-acre property, Frethem said, “While we see it as another opportunity, we are not looking to expand the scope of Rice Creek Commons.”
The city of Arden Hills is not planning to bid on the property, either, said City Administrator Dave Perrault in an email.
According to Life After Life’s fundraising site, other bidders include a heavy demolition equipment storage company.
The auction closes at 1 p.m. Sept. 6 and the current highest bid is listed at $131,500.
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