St. Cloud opts for scaled-down athletic facility rather than lose $10M from state

ST. CLOUD – The Municipal Athletic Complex here is getting a makeover after all, though a significantly scaled down one focused on hockey.

Many area residents thought the project was on ice after a 2022 referendum failed that would have raised $21 million through a half-percent sales tax, enough to secure a committed $10 million in state bonding money.

Instead, city officials and users continued to make their case for some improvements and to make sure the bonding money didn’t expire. Earlier this month, the St. Cloud City Council approved a $10.4 million agreement with Apex Facility Solutions to upgrade the refrigeration and mechanical systems for the MAC’s two ice sheets as well as add a solar roof that will help defray electrical costs.

By December, the city expects to take bids for a $7 million construction phase that will provide three new dedicated dressing rooms for high school teams, a dryland training area, and space for Zambonis and housing of the mechanical systems in a 12,900-square-foot addition off the east end of Ritsche Arena.

The city’s portion of the $17 million total will come from an existing local sales tax for community facilities.

“I thought it was dead, and I was super disappointed that our community wasn’t going to invest in our kids and a facility used by a lot of different groups,” said Robbie Stocker, a 2010 St. Cloud Cathedral graduate who played in the program, returned as head coach four years ago and led the Crusaders to the Class A state championship last March. “At least this is something.”

City officials negotiated last year with the Legislature to drop the match requirement and give an extension until 2028 to use the bonding money. Presuming the council approves a winning construction bid, the work could be done before the 2025-26 hockey season begins. New plans are significantly scaled back though, including no changes to the two baseball facilities that would have included artificial turf for both and rebuilding one of them.

“We have to consider this a victory in that we didn’t let that grant money expire,” said Scott Zlotnik, St. Cloud’s community services and facilities director. “Did we want to forfeit $10 million? No way. This renovation is not going to be the crème de la crème we wanted, but it’s better than nothing. We hope the users and residents will see it that way.”

The Cathedral boys and the St. Cloud Crush boys and girls hockey teams each will be able to decorate a dressing room for their sole use. They will include bathrooms, showers, rooms for coaches and equipment, and lockers for up to 38 players — enough to handle varsity and JV teams.

“I’ve seen it elsewhere with other programs, what that does for the kids and your team culture when you have a space you can call your own,” Stocker said.

“This is long overdue,” said Todd Bissett, who has been managing MAC hockey operations since 1993.

The second-floor training facilities will include shooting lanes, a turf lane that could be used as a batting cage or house a golf simulator, sprint running lanes and open floor space for agility drills or exercise equipment.

All MAC users will be able to reserve the training facilities, just as they would reserve an hour of ice time. Most of the money for the hockey operation comes from rental of more than 3,500 hours of ice for practice rental each year.

The MAC uses 2.2 million kilowatts of power per year. That costs $700 a day. The new mechanical systems will save more than $140,000 a year in utilities and another $40,000 in operating costs. Potential incentives — largely for the solar array — will yield $370,000 toward the construction cost of the project.

Bissett, who played youth and high school hockey at the MAC, oversaw the addition of Torrey Arena in 1997 and was part of the city planning team that first began looking at further MAC expansion 13 years ago.

“I’ve seen all of the things we’ve done and I’ve got a lot of plans, some still stuck to my office wall, of things we didn’t do,” said Bissett, who plans to retire at the end of next year. “I’d like for this one to be done when I leave. At least that would keep the MAC maintainable for the size of our community.”