City Reveals Site Plan for Future of Current Tech High School

ST. CLOUD -- The vision for the future of the current St. Cloud Technical High School is becoming more focused.

The three potential site plans for the future use of Tech have been narrowed down to one. The plan is broken up into two separate sites.

Site "A" is the former District 742 Media Services building along Highway 23. It is about 2.6 acres in size. The draft catalyst site plan for the lot includes a new 50,000 square foot building with retail space on the ground floor and commercial office space on the second floor.

Site "B" is the land that encompasses the main campus of the existing Tech High School. It is about 9.6 acres. Site "B" is being envisioned to be redeveloped as three distinct projects.

The first project includes the redevelopment of the historic 1917 and 1938 buildings at the south end of the site. Future uses might include a gathering space, marketplace, or co-working environment.

The second project is a lower-density multi-family residential space in the northwest corner of the site. It would be three and four stories high, with a small deck attached.

And the final project is a mid-rise tower that would be primarily residential, but would also include some ground floor retail and restaurant space facing Eastman Park. The tower would be 4-6 stories tall with a roof deck. The total size of the buildings for site "B" would be nearly 619,000 square feet, with 22,000 square feet of that as retail, and 460 residential units.

The city bought the site from the school district for $1 and has been spending much of this year creating a plan for its future, including input from neighborhood residents, real estate brokers, builders, developers, architects, and others.  This is the last year the building is being used as a high school before students move to the new Tech next fall.

If you want to weigh in on these plans the St. Cloud Planning Commission is holding a public hearing on Tuesday at 6:00 p.m. at City Hall. It could be forwarded to the city council for their consideration in November.

The Tech High School catalyst site plan is not intended to establish a specific redevelopment master plan, but just to guide future discussions during developer recruitment and negotiations.

The city could like put out a request for proposals on the project by the end of this year.