Applicants for Proposed Waite Park Bingo Hall Pulls Request

WAITE PARK -- Bingo enthusiasts won't be filling out their cards at a new Waite Park Bingo Hall anytime soon.

Granite City Bingo has decided to pull their request to operate a bingo hall in the former Pryamid Beauty Supply building at 57 3rd Street Northeast.

Planning and Community Development Director Jon Noerenberg says parking concerns played a major factor.

"After reviewing the property and working with the applicants, I wasn't comfortable with what they were looking at for parking. I was very concerned parking would spill into the residential areas or to the Crossroads mall property," says Noerenberg.

Noerenberg says since the request was tabled during last month's Planning Commission meeting, the board will reopen the hearing at Tuesday's meeting for further comment, but won't go beyond that.

He says even though that location didn't work out, the Minnesota Fishing Museum and Hall of Fame, Inc., in Little Falls still hopes to open in the St. Cloud metro.

"They noted they would look at alternative locations either in Waite Park or the greater St. Cloud area. Something that's a little better suited for them and wouldn't have those parking concerns," says Noerenberg.

This would have been the first dedicated bingo hall in the St. Cloud Metro since the closure of the Bingo Emporium in 2015.