North Mankato hopes to score funds for new indoor fieldhouse at Caswell Park

From modest beginnings 35 years ago, North Mankato's Caswell Park has established itself as a major center for amateur sporting events in the southern Minnesota-northern Iowa region.

With six softball fields at the original Caswell Park and 10 soccer fields at Caswell North, the complex has hosted a wide variety of leagues and tournaments, both regional and national. Caswell draws as many as 50,000 visitors a year and generates as much as $8 million a year in economic activity for the region.

There's been one drawback, however. The outdoor facilities only operate six months a year.

Now, officials hope to add a fieldhouse for indoor sports, keeping the facilities busy year-round. Gov. Tim Walz has proposed an $8.5 million state bond issue for the Caswell Park fieldhouse. If approved by the Legislature, the bond money will be matched with revenue from a local sales tax and contributions from user groups, covering the expected $17.5 million cost of the facility.

"It's a great thing as a regional asset for our economy," said North Mankato Mayor Mark Dehen. "The region, the state and the user groups all have skin in the game. That's what makes this work. We all have skin in the game and we all want to see it succeed."

The fieldhouse, at 90,000-100,000 square feet, will contain eight basketball courts and six tennis courts. The basketball courts will double as volleyball courts and the tennis courts will be convertible to pickleball. The fieldhouse also will have concession areas and a mezzanine area for spectators.

Caswell Park is already getting $5 million worth of improvements from a state bond issue passed in 2019, which also was matched with local sales tax money. The softball fields are getting new lighting, fencing, seating and scoreboards. The soccer fields are getting improved lighting and turf, including artificial turf for one of the "championship fields" at the north complex.

"The Mankato-North Mankato area has about 60,000 jobs and our population is about 57,000," he said. "So we have to attract people to our community every day to fill those jobs.

"We need to have attractions that make us competitive with our peer cities, both regionally and nationally — and even internationally now."

The community is solidly behind the push, officials said, noting that the local option sales tax to fund the improvements was passed in 2016 by more than 70% of voters in both cities.

And the communities have taken a carefully planned approach to Caswell Park and other recent projects funded by the local sales tax, said North Mankato City Administrator John Harrenstein.

The tennis teams from Minnesota State University-Mankato and Bethany Lutheran College have signed agreements to use the facility. So have AAU teams and club teams in tennis, basketball and volleyball.

An added benefit to investing in a community sports facility is that amateur sports "are virtually recession-proof," said Andy Wilke, director of business development and public affairs for Greater Mankato Growth.

"We've found that even during downturns, parents still get their kids to tournaments and adults are still active," he said. "Sports tourism ripples through the community."

North Mankato is beginning to draw up detailed engineering plans for the facility, said Nate Host, the city's public works director.