Three St. Cloud Area Projects Included in House Bonding Bill

ST. PAUL -- Three St. Cloud metro area projects are included in the Minnesota House Bonding bill. St. Cloud Representative Jim Knoblach says upgrades to the St. Cloud National Guard Armory is funded in the bill.

One that I'm the chief author of is the renovation of the armory on Veteran's Drive on the north side of St. Cloud.  This is a $4.5 million state commitment, as well as a matching $4.5 million grant from the federal government.

A plan to build an amphitheater in Waite Park could also be getting a huge financial boost from the state.

The Waite Park amphitheater is also in the bill.  That's I think an $11 million or $12 million project, of which $5 million would be coming from the state.

Knoblach says there is also money in the bill to make repairs to the prison.

There's also a few million dollars for refurbishing the wall at the St. Cloud Prison.  As well as many many millions of dollars -- I think the number is $16 million -- for repairing plumbing and other asset preservation efforts at the prison.

The $825 million House bonding bill is about half of what Governor Mark Dayton proposed back in January.

The Senate has not released their bonding proposal yet.