St. Paul’s legislators want the state to borrow $8 million to renovate the decade-old CHS Field, where the St. Paul Saints play, part of a $16 million project that would also see a Ferris wheel built at the ballpark.
The request making its way through the Legislature would make the $8 million loan for the Lowertown stadium part of a state bonding bill, a large package of construction projects.
The Saints have played at the CHS Field in St. Paul since 2015, and became the minor-league affiliate of the Twins in 2021.
The money would pay for a new locker room for visiting teams, which the bill’s authors describe as requirements set by Major League Baseball for affiliates' ballparks.
The funds would also clean up some contaminated soil, and fix a moisture barrier in the bullpens.
Those projects would cost about $7 million, according to Ryan Companies, the Minneapolis developer working on the project.
‘Wheel of St. Paul’
The Ferris wheel addition, which Ryan has dubbed “the Wheel of St. Paul” could run another $9 million.
The wheel would be situated inside the ballpark, and Ryan’s pitch promises it will rival sightseeing wheels in Chicago and St. Louis, running both during ballgames and on other days people might want to take in river gorge views.
