River’s Edge Not Highly Ranked in Grant Application

ST. PAUL  (AP) - A Litchfield sewer upgrade, a St. Paul Saints ballpark and a Duluth parking ramp won high grades from state officials evaluating projects for a $47.5 million grant fund.

The Department of Employment and Economic Development ranked those projects the highest out of 37 applications it scored. The agency eliminated more than half the 90 applications it received.

St. Cloud officials have applied for about $10 million of the grant money to help build a parking ramp to the new River's Edge Convention Center.

Gov. Mark Dayton will make the final decision after the Legislature included the grant fund in this year's bonding bill. He is expected to announce his picks this week.

The $27 million Saints ballpark, $2.5 million Litchfield wastewater infrastructure and $10 million Duluth downtown development and parking ramp plan together would eat up most of the money.

(Copyright 2012 by The Associated Press.  All Rights Reserved)