The Kozy burns... what do you guys think of this incident?

[newcastle]

I had to go into the Kozy about 3 yeas ago to look for a guy that ran away from a group home. I got just inside the bar and was hit on by three nasty women within 10 seconds. I will not miss that place. You really can't tell that from the photo that it burned. I tlooks the same as it always has.

[Duluth07]

Most cities do not have their dumpiest bars downtown anymore. Look at downtown Minneapolis - you don't see any 'blue collar bars' unless you go Northeast or down to Lake & Nicollet. They did that because the millionaires buying condos downtown and the Warehouse District didn't want to be associated with what they didn't want to have to look at.

Duluth is different, because all the money here is gone. Although we have 80 some thousand people here, a few more decades we are probably going to be the same population as Hibbing. We do have condos downtown, but we don't have anyone here who can afford to buy them. I worked at the front desk at the YWCA and knew a lot of those who lived downtown because they didn't have a car, they didn't have any money, and if they worked full time, they made minimum wage. Those apartments that were about $500 a month were not an option. Since the YWCA housing closed its doors in January of 2009, the Gardener Hotel closed, and now the Kozy. This leaves very few single-room occupancy units left downtown for those who are single, childless and have very low income. What will most likely happen is this population of people will end up at the Seaway Hotel, making the West End even less desirable and our own little skid row.

However, you have to look at what's going to happen over the next few years. Once Woodland Middle School closes, UMD would be crazy not to buy up the land that goes up to Woodland Avenue on UMD's side, as well as buy Woodland, tear down the school, and use up all that land for the type of student housing we see on Rice Lake Road. With all that open land, the need for the single-family homes from 6th Ave E - eastward will be gone. Now that the UMD students, most of whom have come up here for four years' worth of summer camp while ruining what were once quaint homes, these houses are so ripped up that nobody's going to buy them. Bet you anything that Center City Housing will buy up those houses, and rent them out to Section 8 recipients, which will dramatically lower the property values in the only area left in Duluth that still has decent value.

The Kozy had to go. The problem with Duluth is that people from other places look at Duluth the way that Duluthians look at Grand Marais or International Falls - no crime, no problems, just natural beauty and ski lodges. They have no clue that downtown Duluth has just as many hookers, HIV+ addicts, scam artists, thieves and predators waiting for those just out of treatment or jail. Treatment centers would send people to the YWCA in Duluth (mistakenly thinking it was a halfway house) and many people would move into the Y, realize that there's all the drugs you could ever want a block away, cheap bars a block away, and a casino plopped right in the middle of three low-income senior highrises for them to **** away their meager monthly income within 10 minutes.

The Kozy is gone; now we need to get rid of that cheap, tacky rip-off known as Fond du Luth. I'd rather see a Wal Mart in the middle of downtown than that casino.

[Duluth07]

Interesting, and similar incident found in today's newspaper, from the Crossroads Inn fire of '74; Lake Ave & Superior St:
News Tribune Attic: Crossroads Inn fire, 1974 | Duluth News Tribune | Duluth, Minnesota

[nateduluthnative]

Originally Posted by Duluth07

Most cities do not have their dumpiest bars downtown anymore. Look at downtown Minneapolis - you don't see any 'blue collar bars' unless you go Northeast or down to Lake & Nicollet. They did that because the millionaires buying condos downtown and the Warehouse District didn't want to be associated with what they didn't want to have to look at.

Duluth is different, because all the money here is gone. Although we have 80 some thousand people here, a few more decades we are probably going to be the same population as Hibbing. We do have condos downtown, but we don't have anyone here who can afford to buy them. I worked at the front desk at the YWCA and knew a lot of those who lived downtown because they didn't have a car, they didn't have any money, and if they worked full time, they made minimum wage. Those apartments that were about $500 a month were not an option. Since the YWCA housing closed its doors in January of 2009, the Gardener Hotel closed, and now the Kozy. This leaves very few single-room occupancy units left downtown for those who are single, childless and have very low income. What will most likely happen is this population of people will end up at the Seaway Hotel, making the West End even less desirable and our own little skid row.

However, you have to look at what's going to happen over the next few years. Once Woodland Middle School closes, UMD would be crazy not to buy up the land that goes up to Woodland Avenue on UMD's side, as well as buy Woodland, tear down the school, and use up all that land for the type of student housing we see on Rice Lake Road. With all that open land, the need for the single-family homes from 6th Ave E - eastward will be gone. Now that the UMD students, most of whom have come up here for four years' worth of summer camp while ruining what were once quaint homes, these houses are so ripped up that nobody's going to buy them. Bet you anything that Center City Housing will buy up those houses, and rent them out to Section 8 recipients, which will dramatically lower the property values in the only area left in Duluth that still has decent value.

The Kozy had to go. The problem with Duluth is that people from other places look at Duluth the way that Duluthians look at Grand Marais or International Falls - no crime, no problems, just natural beauty and ski lodges. They have no clue that downtown Duluth has just as many hookers, HIV+ addicts, scam artists, thieves and predators waiting for those just out of treatment or jail. Treatment centers would send people to the YWCA in Duluth (mistakenly thinking it was a halfway house) and many people would move into the Y, realize that there's all the drugs you could ever want a block away, cheap bars a block away, and a casino plopped right in the middle of three low-income senior highrises for them to **** away their meager monthly income within 10 minutes.

The Kozy is gone; now we need to get rid of that cheap, tacky rip-off known as Fond du Luth. I'd rather see a Wal Mart in the middle of downtown than that casino.

Duluth07, when did the Gardner close? I didn't know that. I remember when it was renovated in the late 80's to replace the Lincoln Hotel residents. I'll bet anyone any money that A&L will buy the Gardner and expand the Tech Village!

[Duluth07]

The Gardener closed right around the end of 2008. When I worked at the YWCA, which closed not long after, we had to relocate all of our residents. Because the YWCA's mission is to find safe housing for women first (I worked there the last decade it was open, and by then only the 4th floor was women-only; the 'fitness center' was long gone although many older women have told me that the YWCA was once the place for girls to swim, exercise, etc., I guess they even had a coffee shop, many of the rooms were occupied by out of town girls who were going to DBU or nursing school, etc). But by the end, it was pretty bad. We could not, in good conscience, place some of our residents (many of whom were dumped via Reagan's clearing of all psychiatric hospitals) in with the residents of the Seaway or the Gardener (good because it closed anyway - I heard it was going to become some art colony or something - but you know how fast those things change - either way its just sitting there now).

So (most of the YWCA's longest residents, some who moved in around 1969) we got them a place at the Greysolon, which seemed the most appropriate because theres some support services there and its closer to medical facilities, the bus, etc. The Skinner (1st E and 1st, right above Duluth's lovely Sauna) and the San Marcos ended up being home for the younger men and women who frankly ran with that crowd anyway.

It's a shame because in '06 the Duluth YWCA turned 100, and in 1996 the 'big plan' was a complete makeover of the building, with a facility rivaling what the YMCA just did. We were going to have a brand new pool, huge fitness facility, and actual mid-priced apartments. Never happened. Which is a shame, because when I walk down 2nd St past the Y it's obvious that this 'American Indian' thing that was proposed has been abandoned (and I thought that's what Thunderbird House was for anyway?) and the longer the YW sits empty and unkempt, it's just one more blighted property downtown similar to the Lincoln Hotel. Could've been a beautiful comeback, but it sat empty and neglected for too long in a city with no money.

It's odd because downtown Minneapolis' version of the Kozy Apartments was known as the Fairmont Hotel, which, on 9th and Hennepin, went under this incredible transformation to become what is now the Chambers Minneapolis, with rooms that go for $400 a night in this NYC inspired boutique hotel. Look at the website just for fun sometime (do a google search for Chambers Minneapolis) and you won't believe how they turned this place around!

[nateduluthnative]

Yes, I've seen the Chambers, but never been inside. I'm from Duluth, but have been in the cities for nearly 13 years now. I moved there because of some of the things you mentioned(lack of jobs, money, etc). I can't believe the Gardner closed because it was renovated about 22 years ago and it looks ok, at least the front does. They could at least redo the sides of it, they look terrible when you drive up or down Lake Ave. Theu put all new windows on it when they revovated it, but I have no idea what it looks like on the inside.

[nateduluthnative]

According to an article in today's News Tribune, Eric Ringsred wants to "fix up" the Kozy! How can anyone "fix up" a place like that?!!! There is a small minority of people(preservationists) who want to "save" every crappy building in Duluth no matter how insignificant the place may be. If it weren't for people like Ringsred and his ilk, there would have been an economic renaissance in Duluth years ago! People, it's time to get out of the 1890's and let some new buildings go up Downtown. Preserve the major landmarks, but get rid of the slums for crying out loud! In defense if Eric Ringsred the Kozy is his property, so he can do what he wants with it, but the preservationists and environmentalists like him need to let others develop this city with new ideas!