Public Works Central Maintenance Facility

Project Background

The City has begun planning for the replacement of its Central Maintenance Facility, currently located at 400 Richmond Street East. The City’s plan for replacement of this facility is to construct a new building with the layout, size, efficiencies and accessibility necessary to meet the community’s present-day and future needs for maintenance and upkeep of the City’s critical public infrastructure. The current facility, built in 1970, has served the community well but has become obsolete in the context of 21^st Century public works operations. Serving as “home base” for the City’s Streets, Fleet, Parks, and Utilities divisions and more than twenty full-time staff who maintain and repair the City’s critical infrastructure, the current and future facility serves an essential function for the City to meet the demands of maintaining reliable City infrastructure systems into the future.

Planning and Design

After completing a Facility Assessment in late-2023 which indicated a near-term need for the city to consider fully replacing the current facility, the City began to evaluate location options and ultimately accepted the transfer of approximately 15 acres of land from the Metropolitan Council Environmental Services (MCES) located just southwest of the existing Community Gardens, Boat Launch, and Compost Facility at 675 Verderosa Avenue. Acquiring this property at no cost from MCES is estimated to have saved the City at least $1,000,000 in property acquisition costs. In 2024, the City retained Kraus-Anderson to serve as Construction Manager for the project, and a preliminary design study was completed in May 2025 which identified a range of high-level design options to consider for further design and development. A Request for Proposal for Architectural Design Services was issued in June 2025, and in August 2025 HCM Architects was awarded a design contract for the project. The City, Kraus-Anderson, and HCM will work together to design a facility that will provide a safer and more efficient workspace for City staff and will allow for the City to store valuable public machinery, vehicles, and equipment indoors rather than in the outdoors where it is exposed to the elements and vulnerable from a security standpoint.

Additional Improvements

In addition to the Public Works project, other anticipated improvements include the extension of a through public roadway connection and utilities from Verderosa Avenue to Hardman Avenue, the relocation and renewal of the South St. Paul Community Gardens, and improved access to the Mississippi River and the regional trail network.

Project Funding

Funding for the project will come through a combination of cash reserves, municipal property sales proceeds, and by the City selling municipal bonds, which would be paid back over time with property tax revenues. The City continues to seek state and federal funding support for the project, as applicable, and has been awarded $3,000,000 from the United States Department of Housing and Urban Development for the extension of Verderosa Avenue and public utilities to serve the project.