If for some reason Mendota Mdewakanton Dakota Tribe have any objections to the use of their sacred spring and ancient burial ground as the setting for a low budget zombie movie or if the appropriate permits can not be obtained from the Department of the interior for filming on the old U.S. Bureau of Mines complex, we might be able to move the project up the street to the old Purina Mill. If you don’t think an abandoned dog food factory is creepy enough then you haven’t been inside this place. I had a good look around last spring and that place scared the crap out of me. I was working for the Metropolitan Mosquito Control District. We were in search of old tires and the elusive and dangerous Aedes japonicus mosquito. We didn’t find any but there were at least three dead cats on the loading dock and I got the impression that somethings sinister were taking place in the old building after dark. The script for a zombie movie on the site probably would involve a rare Asian Mosquito that transmits some form of mutated West Nile virus that brings dead dogs back to life! Where are you most likely to find zombie dogs? An abandoned dog food factory? Dead Dogs from all over the city are somehow drawn to the abandoned Purina plant where they lurk in the shadows and prey on unsuspecting gangs of horny, drunken youths. The Purina Mill may actually have a future. a community benefits agreement was drawn up between the Longfellow Community Council and a developer called Capital Growth Real Estate back in March or February of last year. I don’t know how things are shaking out. In September the city was proposing some sort of pay as you go Tax-Increment financing. If all goes well, the site will be cleaned up and redeveloped into complex of 197 housing units, and 10,000 square feet of retail space called Longfellow Station.
