What Used to Be At the Liberty Square Lot in St. Cloud

ST. CLOUD (WJON News) -- As St. Cloud looks to revitalize its downtown one of the key elements to that plan seems to be to transform several of its surface parking lots into mixed-use developments.

The biggest most prominent surface lot in the downtown is the Liberty Square lot, which is also known as the Lady Slipper lot.  It encompasses a whole block between the 6th and 7th Avenues.  It has a total of 267 parking spaces.

So what was there before it became a parking lot?  According to the Stearns History Museum records it used to be the home of St. Cloud Iron Works.  The company dates back to the 1890s.  St. Cloud Iron Works operated in that location for about 60 years until 1956 when it moved to a new location south of the St. Cloud Country Club on Clearwater Road.

The block has been a city-owned parking lot for 66 years now.

St. Cloud does have the property earmarked for redevelopment.  It was named one of a handful of potential catalyst sites in 2016.

A proposed redevelopment the city would like to see there includes retail, a hotel, office space, parking, and green space. However, no developer has come forward to develop the lot yet.