Saint Paul Saints stadium tops list of capital projects

The Saint Paul Saints will receive $25 million in state funds to build a new baseball stadium, more than half of the money disbursed by the Department of Employment and Economic Development for capital projects. Gov. Mark Dayton announced the funding decision at a press conference on Thursday.

In addition, the City of Duluth will receive $8.5 million for downtown development, including a public parking ramp, while Wadena received $4.2 million for a health clinic. The Southwest Light Rail Transit line was allocated $2 million — or $12 million less than requested. The cities of Litchfield and Lonsdale will receive money for  sewer upgrades. Left out completely were civic center projects in St. Cloud, Rochester and Mankato.

As part of this year’s capital investment bill, the Legislature allocated $47.5 million for DEED to disburse. Initially 90 applications for funding were received. On Monday DEED released rankings for the top 37 projects. The Saints request for $27 million was the top-ranked metro-area project, while the sewer upgrade in Litchfield received the highest marks outstate.