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The Metropolitan Council recently approved several grants worth more than $11 million for projects that will lead to economic development and affordable housing in the Twin Cities area.

The grants were awarded to cities that participate in the Livable Communities program. The council awarded 14 grants for mix-use development projects and six grants for projects that are in the design, site evaluation or other pre-development stages.

The council also recently approved a Transit-Oriented Development Fund within the program for projects designed to promote economic development and job creation along metro transit areas.

The Livable Communities grants included $750,000 to help develop a mixed-use building next to the Hamline Central Corridor light-rail transit (LRT) station; $480,170 to renovate and build new apartments for low-income residents near an LRT station in Minneapolis; and $433,771 to make way for a new mixed-use building that will provide housing and jobs near the Cedar-Riverside Hiawatha LRT Station and Central Corridor West Bank Station in Minneapolis.

The grants also included $80,000 to assist local efforts to prepare plans for the Louisiana Avenue light-rail station development area; $100,000 for St. Paul officials to prepare the Highway 36 Corridor Master Plan, which will include transit-oriented development options; and $100,000 to help make publicly owned property next to the Central Corridor LRT in Minneapolis available and suitable for development.

Since 1995, the council has awarded about $230 million in Livable Communities grants.