Tech High School Could Become St. Cloud City Hall

The halls of Technical High School have been dark and empty since St. Cloud school district vacated the site this summer, moving students and classes to the new Tech High School on the south side of town. 

But the halls of the historic 1917 and 1938 parts of the first Tech might now see new light by next spring. 

St. Cloud Mayor Dave Kleis announced Friday plans to move City Hall to the renovated portions of the building. 

"We can, for the next 50 years, keep it in the hands of the public, where it has been for the past 100 years," Kleis said. 

Kleis said Friday the developer who responded to the city's request for qualifications for the project — Plymouth-based Dominium — backed out because the anticipated costs of redevelopment were too high.

"Financially, it didn't work," Kleis said, noting the developer would have likely required a several million dollar subsidy to make the numbers work.