It is 2016. Local leaders in St. Paul, Minnesota were debating whether to give millions of taxpayer dollars to Minnesota United FC to help with the construction of a new soccer stadium, named Allianz Field. This included a mixed-use development around the new stadium.
In 2016, the owner of Minnesota United FC showed the city council a 33-page master plan that outlined a “series of public spaces, including four parks and plazas”, on 35 acres of land. Essentially, the new stadium would be a part of a brand new “mixed-use walkable development” that included public input from a “community advisory committee”. Residents were told to expect a mixed-use village that included “retail, office, residential, hospitality, entertainment, and food and beverage offerings”.
At a city meeting in August 2016, the team owner released new architectural renderings that included:
- A full-service hotel with 158 rooms and includes a “bar, restaurant, an attached parking garage and retail space on the ground floor”.
- A four-story Office building that totaled 100,000 square feet and would likely become the headquarters for the team in the future.
- A restaurant pavilion and likely another restaurant. Both would have “lots of outdoor seating, large glass windows and a casual atmosphere”.
- A plaza and playground “need to remain as accessible as a public park in perpetuity”.
In terms of numbers, the total price of the stadium was pegged at around $150 million. Thankfully, the owners of Minnesota United FC were going to fund the entire stadium project privately. However, the city was still giving roughly $20 million for infrastructure work around the stadium. Then there is the fact that the team pays zero property taxes and has been given TIF (Tax-Increment Financing) money in 2020 and 2021. So, add a few more million per year at minimum.
Back in 2016, the team had one specific request for the city. The team demanded that construction for the stadium start within months, if not weeks. This meant that the city had to approve the deal very fast. Maybe too fast? One council member seemed troubled by the speed of this deal and publicly noted how little information was available to them. There was no traffic impact report done at this time. There was no parking plan in place.
“We’re expected to vote on this in 10 days, and there has been no vetting in the media, there’s been no public hearing…These things are usually talked about for maybe as much as a year, and we’re going to break ground in three months? They want it all done before we go to the (legislative) session…Why do we need to have it done before we go to the Legislature?” — Council Member Jane Prince, Pioneer Press, 02/23/16
Now it is 2023. Let’s see how great this mixed-use place has become. According to the Star-Tribune in a recent article, nothing has changed. Fans coming to the stadium for this year’s home opener found “very little changed” from past years. Additionally, the stadium was still surrounded by a “barren landscape of surface parking lots”. This is likely why fans continue coming to games and complaining about the “lack of activities around the stadium for before and after games”.
Sadly, local residents can do nothing but continue to wait for a “renaissance around Allianz Field”. The lack of any new development has led to “frustration over pushed-out and scaled-back plans”. The owner of the team blames just about everyone but himself.
“Excitement about what could emerge here has been brewing since 2016, when the master plan for a mixed-use development surrounding the stadium was approved…(Minnesota United Owner) McGuire acknowledged that the current plans are far more modest than the original vision…He blamed the global pandemic and the unrest of 2020” — Minnesota Star Tribune, 03/08/24
Is something coming soon? You bet. Instead of housing or businesses, developers are apparently in the process of building a “sculpture garden, featuring a 33-foot statue of a loon”. But guess what? A hotel and office building “could be next” per the team. They just need $17 million in taxpayer money (Tax-Increment Financing funds to be exact) for it to possibly happen. Based on their history, I am sure the team will get it done in a few decades.
The Pioneer Press summed it up quite well.
“Gone are the twin towers of offices and housing above a multi-level parking podium. A movie theater and mixed-use live-work spaces no longer line the concept drawings. Instead, after seven years without visible progress, the updated vision for real estate redevelopment around Allianz Field, the city’s 19,400-seat professional soccer stadium in St. Paul’s Midway, starts small, with a sculpture” — Pioneer Press, 07/14/23
A few years ago, there was still talk about St. Paul yet again trying to give taxpayer money to spur some sort of economic activity around the stadium. I have not seen anything recently that agreed with that idea. If not now, will they ever realize that the soccer stadium will not magically create an economic boom for everyone?
