St. Cloud Planning $14 Million MAC Arena Renovation

ST. CLOUD (WJON News) -- St. Cloud is moving forward with some needed renovations at the Municipal Athletic Complex after a sales tax referendum failed in 2022.

The city received $10 million in state bonding money for the project in October 2020. Mayor Dave Kleis says typically the state requires a 50 percent local match for bonding dollars but the city convinced the state to drop that requirement because the bonding allocation was set to expire at the end of 2025.

The city is also using about $4 million in already existing half-cent sales tax dollars.

The $14 million project will address the most critical needs of just the hockey arena at this time. The project includes a two-story 14,000-square-foot building addition, locker room remodeling, a new roof on the entire arena, updated mechanical equipment, an LED lighting system, and a boiler replacement.

Kleis says down the road the city will be looking at selling the naming rights and asking for private investments for other amenities.

He says the two baseball fields at the MAC also need upgrades but will have to wait for now.

The Planning Commission will be asked to sign off on the improvements during its meeting on Tuesday, if they approve them it goes to the City Council in February.