St. Cloud’s Downtown Plan is Designed Through Resident Input

The City of St. Cloud is drafting a Downtown Comprehensive Plan that will guide its development and planning efforts over the next decade. The plan builds upon national trends and by consulting residents through a series of meetings and digital surveys.  

“The comprehensive plan focuses on key redevelopment opportunities and public infrastructure improvements, creating a vibrant, active community gathering place,” says Matt Glaesman, Community Development Director for the City of St. Cloud. “The community should dream big to shape a unique downtown experience locally and regionally.”

The City of St. Cloud is considering the future of transportation, parking, pedestrian mobility, recreation, and land in its planning process. The comprehensive plan has the potential to create a downtown environment that benefits businesses and attracts both residents and visitors for years to come. 

American Downtowns Are Changing

A decade ago, the City of St. Cloud developed a comprehensive plan that focused on increasing office space to attract businesses. This was the primary need of the time, and many urban areas catered to companies and their employees. Then, the COVID-19 pandemic occurred and changed the way Americans work forever.

Five years post-pandemic, many companies have made remote work permanent to attract and retain employees. In 2025, more office space was removed than developed, for the first time this century. Studies show that nationwide office vacancies stabilized at 19%, and approximately 85 million square feet of office space will be converted in the next few years.

Now is not the time to build new offices downtown. This means the City of St. Cloud needs to pivot and create an urban environment that meets the current needs of residents. 

The Downtown Plan is a Community-Driven Effort

The city cannot know everything residents want, down to every newly-planted tree and parking space. This is why resident input is essential to better understand the community's needs and act on them. Here are a few ways the city listened to residents and collected ideas over the past year. 

• The City of St. Cloud created an online survey that reviewed important issues related to downtown development. 
• It used map.social, an interactive tool that allowed residents to drop points on a map of downtown and leave comments. 
• It held community meetings to discuss trends further so the city could better understand the survey results. Recent community workshops asked participants to form groups of six to eight to develop a shared vision of the downtown’s future by drawing on paper maps with markers. 

The goal was to make the discussions as engaging as possible, so residents would get creative and have fun envisioning the city's future.

Throughout all of these meetings, the community will identify what parts of downtown are ripe for redevelopment, areas that can be more walkable, and what elements can enhance the aesthetic. The shared vision will then inform future public and private sector partnerships and investments.  

The City Will Present Its Downtown Plan in Early 2026

The city has additional meetings and listening sessions planned, and will debut its downtown plan during a series of public hearings in the spring. The city council will then vote to adopt the plan based on resident input in April or May 2026.

While the downtown plan is still in development, Glaesman highlighted a number of trends that keep coming up in the discussions and survey feedback. These themes will be featured in the final report:

• Building around the Mississippi River: How can the city take advantage of this beautiful sightline and natural space to create a functional environment for residents? 
• Increasing housing demand: As downtowns transition from work areas to residential spaces, the need for housing increases. As a whole, the City of St. Cloud and the surrounding market area need 17,000 new housing units in the next 15 years. These units should support different income levels and lifestyles. 
• Strategic growth: The city wants to create new opportunities for business investment and residential development while contributing to the character of downtown.

Glaesman emphasizes that the City of St. Cloud has great bones due to the intentional preservation of many downtown historic structures. The downtown’s entertainment and cultural amenities complement those bones with events and activities. However, changing economic trends mean there are opportunities for re-inventing downtown, and the city will continuously work to meet the needs and future goals of residents and the market.

“Creating a unique sense of place and experience is essential to bring residents and visitors consistently downtown,” he says. 

A Thriving Downtown is Good for Economic Development

The St. Cloud Economic Development Authority sees the value of the Downtown Comprehensive Plan and its impact on business attraction and retention. The downtown area has already seen significant changes this year with the opening of the Great River Children’s Museum. Residents and tourists visit the museum and linger downtown for lunch or to visit the downtown shops before heading home. With the right planning, multiple businesses can benefit when individuals, couples, or families visit the area.

Learn more about St. Cloud and how the city is changing. See why more people are moving here and making a difference as business owners, industry leaders, and employees.