City Council pledges $27 million for St. Paul stadium

Updated: July 19, 2012 - 12:25 AM

The City Council pledged $27 million, but the deal now requires a matching grant from the state.

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St. Paul officials Wednesday endorsed details of a financing proposal for a new regional ballpark in Lowertown.

The City Council voted unanimously to support a plan to finance half of the $54 million project that would be home to the independent St. Paul Saints baseball team.

But the deal isn't done.

The city now must wait to see whether the state provides a $27 million development grant for the rest of the project. That decision is expected in the next couple of months, but this is the closest the city has come to getting the Saints out of Midway Stadium, which continues to tumble toward dilapidation.

The council's overwhelming support stands in contrast to the one-vote margin endorsement the Minneapolis City Council gave to a $1 billion Minnesota Vikings stadium.

The city's financing proposal is viewed by the council as critical to securing a state grant for the other half of the cost.

The financing plan requires the city to come up with $17 million and the Saints, the ballpark's primary tenant, to pay $10 million for a total of $27 million.

A chunk of city-Saints portion, $17 million, will come from the issuance of two series of bonds evenly split between the city and the team.

Both the city and the team would have to make payments of $625,000 annually on the bonds. The remainder of the city's share comes from various one-time transfers from other funds.

ROCHELLE OLSON