
What Could Be the Vision for Downtown St. Cloud
Changes are coming to downtown St. Cloud. St. Cloud Community Development Director Matt Glaesman joined me on WJON. The comprehensive plan is being examined now looking at all locations in the city. Glaesman says it is a good time to take a fresh look at the city's growth with the many changes in the past 10 years.

Glaesman says there will be a focus on downtown and this involves residential and commercial development. He says the Lady Slipper and Riverboat parking lots are opportunities for development and views these surface parking lots as areas that shouldn't be consuming land downtown for parking. Glaesman explains past visions included large office buildings but that will no longer happen. He says the way people work has changed the need for those type of buildings.
The former Herberger's Department Store building largely remains the same as it did when it closed in August of 2018. Glaesman says they've seen interested parties coming from all over the world to look at the property and it just isn't market viable. He says there is more discussion recently about the building coming down and it could lead to green space. Glaesman says the developer who bought the Herberger's property has recently lowered the price and that has sparked some interest from previously interested parties.
Glaesman also indicated the recent news about the Stearns County Justice Center set to relocate has led to what becomes of that property. He says a great point of interest to this comprehensive plan is a possible sports facility downtown which could be located where the current court facilities and jail buildings are located. Glaesman indicates an arena that could support hockey, basketball, concerts and other events could be considered. I asked if this could be a privately or public owned property and Glaesman says it could be either. He says the 3 to 4 blocks of downtown that currently includes the Stearns County facilities and post office is a large space that could support a ballpark like CHS Field in St. Paul or the Mankato Civic Center.
Glaesman says because of the large areas available to develop, it is important to have this discussion about downtown St. Cloud properties to focus on the vision. He also talked about east St. Cloud development options and the old District 742 Media Services property. If you'd like to listen to my conversation, it is available below.
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