Bonding request for Caswell Park’s upgrades

MANKATO, Minn. (KEYC) - North Mankato has voted to submit a bonding bid to the legislature for upgrades to Caswell Park for the third time. Aaron Stuve has more with where the project currently stands and why the city is hopeful that this time the bid will be successful.

After receiving funding in 2020 for preliminary planning and design, the city of North Mankato will be requesting state bonding funds to upgrade Caswell Park and build a new indoor sports facility.

The city council voted Monday to request $12.75-million in bonding money to be reviewed by the legislature next year.

This will be the third attempt at acquiring state funding, and the city is hopeful that this request will do the trick.

“It helps that the governor is from this area, realizes what the features are currently available and what’s missing, so this is kind of a missing need. Obviously there’s school with a lot of gym space but it’s already being used already for a lot of things.”

The new facility would include full sized basketball, volleyball and tennis courts to be used by local schools and to host regional tournaments and other events.

The city says that the project has been ready to launch for some time, but that the current plan for the project may not last.

“We are a shovel-ready project, we spent $700-thousand nearly to design a facility. So it’s ready to go but now there’s some talk of maybe expanding the scope a little or revising it.”

The city’s deadline to submit their request to the state is June 16.

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