St. Cloud Hoping for $100 Million Investment from the State to Take the City Into the Future

(KNSI) — St. Cloud is asking lawmakers for $100 million to take the city into the future.

The council approved a resolution of support Monday night. Mayor Dave Kleis told KNSI News the money would spark investment in the city, and the goal is to have a 10-to-one ratio for every dollar of public investment by the state returned with $10 in private money. “$100 million from the state will leverage over a $1 billion in private investment. But in order to get that private investment, we have to break some of the barriers that exist.”

He says some of those barriers include downtown buildings that need help renovating due to the sheer cost of upgrades. Some buildings need improvements to sustain market-rate housing, and others must be torn down to make way for new buildings. He says the private investment would come with the construction of market-rate housing, which would go hand in hand with building stores and restaurants from the private investment.

The funds would also help connect downtown to St. Cloud Hospital, St. Cloud State University, and the Lake George area where city hall sits.

Kleis says they’re asking to be treated like other regional communities. “Duluth received over $100 million for their downtown connectivity, Rochester received over half a billion dollars for their tech connectivity, we’re looking at the same thing.”

He says different city committees have put plans together over the last ten years to come up with projects. The next step would be to take proposed projects to the downtown task force and prioritize them through the summer.

Officials made the request two weeks ago to meet the Minnesota Legislature’s deadline for bonding requests for the 2024 Legislative Session.

St. Cloud is also asking Minnesota Employment and Economic Development for $12.9 million in bonding money for a proposed University of Minnesota Medical School with CentraCare. The medical provider would repurpose 60,000 square feet of space at the CentraCare Health Plaza. The medical school would house simulators, learning areas, and other educational tools. The medical school would focus on training doctors to treat people in small towns across Minnesota.

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