The city of St. Paul is asking state lawmakers for $2 million as part of the planning process for upgrades to Xcel Energy Center.

In November, 5 EYEWITNESS NEWS first reported that the city of St. Paul, the Minnesota Wild and the office of Gov. Tim Walz were in the early stages of talks aimed at improving and upgrading the Xcel Energy Center.

RELATED: Early talks put cost of Xcel Energy Center renovations at up to $300 million

Sources told KSTP that Wild owner Craig Leipold met privately in November with a city leader and a key state lawmaker with initial costs for the renovation project in the range of $200-300 million.

St. Paul Deputy Mayor Jaimie Tincher told KSTP Sunday that the city has asked state lawmakers for $2 million to create plans and pre-design ideas so the city could present a full-scale proposal to the Legislature in the 2025 legislative session.

“So that when we come back in the next legislative session, for the full ask, we’ll have all of our details,” said Tincher. “We have 130 nights where this facility is jammin’.”

Tincher said the Xcel Energy Center is not only important to the city, but the region and state as well.

“I see this. The mayor sees this and city leadership sees this as an investment in our economic future,” said Tincher. When asked if the $300 million cost was accurate, Tincher replied, “I think it could be at least that.”

Joe Spencer, president of the St. Paul Downtown Alliance, said business leaders in his organization will also be involved to see what business owners think about renovating the arena.

“I mean, really, it’s mostly us listening to them and hearing from these business leaders how important the arena is to them,” said Spencer. “And, when you think about vitality in downtown St. Paul, we have no better asset, there’s no bigger driver of vitality than this arena.”

Tincher said if the $2 million is approved by lawmakers, a timeline for all of the renovations and upgrades would be presented during the 2025 legislative session.