St. Cloud Board Backs Doyenne Development for Empty Lot Near City Hall, Lake George

(KNSI) – St. Cloud’s Economic Development Authority wants to move forward with Minneapolis-based Doyenne Development to come up with a project for the empty lot between St. Cloud City Hall and Lake George.

The board voted Wednesday to recommend that the mayor’s office sign a letter of intent with the company. Economic Development Director Cathy Mehelich explains where that leaves the site. “We did not select a development. So very key difference there. We will be working together to refine what a redevelopment project could look like.”

Doyenne has pitched 71 homes plus a commercial building overlooking the lake. The other applicant, Torborg Builders of St. Cloud, proposed more than 110 apartments. Mehelich says board members liked the smaller project’s mix of housing and business, which they believe could complement the Gate City Bank planned next door.

According to Mehelich, Claire VanderEyk of Doyenne, who attended St. Cloud Tech High School and St. Cloud State University, offered a project in Cedar Rapids, Iowa, as a model for the commercial side. “There’s a microbrewery and maybe a pickleball court or just something that would attract some traffic to the downtown community.”

The letter of intent would give the city and Doyenne up to six months of exclusive talks to work out the number and style of units, construction costs and financing. The developer may also look for businesses interested in moving in, and the public will have chances to weigh in. The talks could end if the two sides reach an impasse, but Mehelich says extensions are common because financing can take time to piece together. Any plan would come back to the EDA, and the site would need to be rezoned.

Mehelich told KNSI the developer has asked for some form of public help, but it’s too early to know what Doyenne’s project might need. The city already reduces some development fees for apartment projects. Tax increment financing is limited because the site doesn’t contain a blighted property, though tax abatement, a similar tool, could be an option.

The 3.27-acre lot has been vacant since 2023, when the city tore down two wings of the former Tech High School. The city’s comprehensive plan calls for townhomes or a multi-story apartment building there, and a recent downtown rental study ranked it among the most attractive sites for that kind of project.

The Gate City Bank corner isn’t part of the deal, and the city closed on that sale earlier this week.

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