The city of St. Paul is mulling whether to replace the tired downtown RiverCentre parking ramp, and will allocate up to $300,000 for experts to study the matter.

The St. Paul City Council on Wednesday unanimously approved using money from the city parking fund to hire consultants with background in design, construction and real estate development.

The council was acting in its capacity as the St. Paul Housing and Redevelopment Authority,

The city has repeatedly asked the state Legislature to support half the cost of replacing the 1,600-stall parking ramp, which serves the Xcel Energy Center and RiverCentre convention halls.

Ideas floated to date include a new 2,200-stall ramp with possible new real estate development above it along Kellogg Boulevard.

Visit St. Paul, the city’s convention center authority and tourism bureau, has estimated that annual ramp maintenance costs between $1 million and $2 million.

The city-owned ramp was shuttered in May 2018 when a slab of concrete ceiling fell on a parked car. No one was injured.

The ramp began reopening in stages last July as safety improvements were made and was fully reopened as of November.