The two sites mentioned in chatter over a prospective Major League Soccer stadium in St. Paul are both longtime redevelopment candidates in a city fixated on growth, potentially paving an easier path for the project as plans in Minneapolis waver.

On Wednesday, MLS Deputy Commissioner Mark Abbott said he’ll meet with St. Paul Mayor Chris Coleman in the next few weeks to discuss a new outdoor facility for Minnesota United FC.

Major projects including the Green Line light rail route, CHS Field and an influx of new housing are transforming St. Paul from the sleepier of the Twin Cities into a hotspot for developers and businesses.

A stadium deal could answer calls for redevelopment at the Sears property at 425 Rice St., near the Capitol, or the Metro Transit bus barn near Interstate 94, by Snelling and University avenues. Both sites are contenders for the stadium, and Coleman wants a deal.

“The mayor is excited to have soccer in Minnesota, and if MLS officials pursue a stadium in St. Paul, the mayor will work hard to make that happen,” a spokesperson for the mayor said Friday. Coleman was unavailable for additional comment.

Without a Twin Cities stadium plan, Abbott made clear the league could shift its focus elsewhere. He did not set a deadline for St. Paul, but the league wants a firm proposal soon.

“We are pleased that MLS has agreed to meet with officials from St. Paul to learn about the possibility of building a new stadium there as we believe this is an opportunity that deserves to be evaluated further,” Minnesota United President Nick Rogers said in a statement.

Metro Transit expects to finish a new feasibility study on the bus barn site in coming months, spokesman Howie Padilla said. The Metropolitan Council, which runs Metro Transit and owns the site, has worked with the city since 2012 to evaluate development options for the former bus maintenance facility.

“We are in full support of development in the region and specifically along and near any of our bus routes and our rail lines,” Padilla said. “Whatever shape or wherever that location is, what we can do to support development along those routes and along those rail lines, we look forward to assisting our region with that.”

Including adjacent shopping center properties, the potential redevelopment site covers 34.5 acres. Goals for the bus barn revamp include “further intensification” of the area, increased transit use and leveraging surrounding amenities, according to city documents.

The 14-acre Sears property – close to downtown with easy transit access – remains ripe for redevelopment more than two years after plans surfaced for a facelift that never took hold.

Both properties are near stops on the Green Line, a development catalyst along its route between the downtowns of St. Paul and Minneapolis.

“This isn’t about a point on the map where you push a thumbtack in and say, ‘This is where we want a stadium,’” said St. Paul Area Chamber of Commerce head Matt Kramer. “It’s about all the other ways to leverage this stadium.”

Still, it remains unclear whether St. Paul will overcome the hurdles that have so far stymied plans to bring a $120 million, 18,500-seat stadium to Minneapolis.

Minnesota United’s ownership group agreed to finance the stadium, but its request for tax abatement rubbed some policymakers the wrong way on the heels of publicly funded facilities for the Vikings and Twins.

Under its initial framework, Minnesota United would match existing property taxes on the Minneapolis site – around $340,000 per year – but would not pay taxes on value added by the stadium. Team owners also asked for tax breaks on construction materials.

The abatement would run between $3 million and $4 million, according to Minneapolis estimates.

In St. Paul, however, the bus barn site hasn’t generated property taxes in more than 50 years. That could help pave the way for the tax relief Minnesota United’s owners want as part of a stadium deal.

“Exempting land from taxes that hasn’t gotten a penny of taxes in over 50 years is going to be a heck of a lot easier,” Kramer said. “It’s easier to say, ‘We haven’t gotten a penny in 50 years, let’s give it another 20 years.’”

Minneapolis could still come up with a solidified proposal, but little movement so far makes that unlikely. Still, City Council Member Jacob Frey suggested the project, an economic driver, remains in play.

“At this point, no proposal has been made concrete and obviously no deal has been finalized,” Frey said Thursday. “I’m not willing to turn my back on a sport with huge millennial and multicultural appeal that is the fastest-growing sport in the country.”

Minneapolis Mayor Betsy Hodges – a critic of stadium subsidies – said in an emailed statement that she hasn’t heard from team officials but would meet with them at their request.

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