A math error is sending Rochester's multi-billion dollar Destination Medical Center project back to the Minnesota Legislature.
The state attorney general's office confirmed the error in the 2013 legislation that committed the state to steer half a billion dollars in tax breaks to downtown Rochester's massive redevelopment project.
A mistaken multiplier would have blocked the project from access to the full tax breaks until $12 billion in private investment had gone into the project — double the $6 billion lawmakers had intended.
The bill language will have to be corrected when the Legislature returns to work early next year.
Mayo has pledged $3.5 billion of its own money to the project, and promised to bring in another $2 billion in private investment to turn Rochester into a destination in its own right, full of gleaming new shops, restaurants, hotels and cultural amenities to attract patients and doctors alike.
