Senate Committee Gives Green Light On Tax Break For Minnesota United Stadium
ST. PAUL, Minn. (WCCO) -- The Minnesota United cleared a major hurdle at the State Capitol on Thursday.
The Senate Tax Committee gave the green light for a tax break on its new St. Paul soccer stadium.
Minnesota United's owners say they'll pay the cost of turning an empty St. Paul lot into a state-of-the-art, $150 million, 20,000 seat outdoor facility.
And St. Paul Mayor Chris Coleman says without a stadium, the lot would stay empty for another 20 years.
"It's an extremely difficult piece of land to redevelop, absent some big catalytic opportunity, such as the stadium," he said.
The city of St. Paul is asking state lawmakers to declare this corner of the Midway "property tax exempt."
And like other stadiums, Minnesota United wants the construction materials they use to be exempt from the sales tax.
Without it, team owners say the new franchise will likely go away.
"I think it would be very problematic, and a high possibility -- not probability -- that the franchise would be lost without this," said United team owner Dr. Bill Maguire.
But not everyone is lining up behind the stadium.
Critics say the city of St. Paul already poured millions of dollars into the new St. Paul Saints baseball stadium and a practice facility for the Minnesota Wild, while other city programs go unfunded.
"And the problem, I would suggest, is that we have a city -- and in particular a mayor -- with a stadium addiction, and the state needs to stop enabling him," said Tom Goldstein, a neighborhood resident and former St. Paul City Council candidate.