New stores coming to Duluth, anyone know of any? (Cloquet: buyer, estimated)

[chublake]

I'm sorry KnKe0402, I did mess up with an extra "ago" and BFF rather than BWW. I didn't proof it. And, I totally agree with your analysis of Duluth and what needs to be addressed in the area.

The City of Duluth is not business friendly unless you have the right last name. It's been that way for years and until the voters change the way they vote, that's what Duluth will continue to do. Duluth is dependent totally on service industry. Thus, the great discussions on restaurants that locate there because of tourism, basically. There is basically no industry to support growth in the area. The City, County and State fight everybody. Environmental studies, permitting processes, etc. make it not worth the cost to companies. Environmentalists put up a fight about everything. There is nothing wrong with protecting nature, I love animals and clean air and all that. Go elsewhere in the Country and you will see that development can exist and areas can flourish with still keeping a balance. They are just closed minded in Duluth and then we are back to the way the people vote there.

Property taxes, fees, etc. in that area are out of control. Our property taxes in Alabama... beautiful home w/pool and taxes of $625 a year. Industry is pouring into the State. Hyundai, Mercedes Benz, a huge steel plant down near Mobile (yep, a stone's throw from the Gulf of Mexico!!). Thousands of jobs. This resulted in all kinds of new stores we wanted moving in to fill the void of all the people who had disposable income. It's only natural. Minnesota has too many government workers and businesses are freaked out about the "Union" culture in that area.

Until those issues are addressed, you aren't going to get the Macy's or Nordstroms.

I wish the best for Duluth. But, you need to make it business friendly. I think that is why you are going to see alot of development over in the Cloquet/Esko area. They realize what Duluth is not doing and they are going to fill the void.

Look on the bright side. When we come up there we can't wait to go to Chop Sticks and Sammy's pizza. You have them, we don't.

Oh well.... you are the people that live there and can make all this happen. Good luck, I will be reading with great interest to see how things develop for you!!

[aluminumpork]

@chublake: Thanks for the polite and honest analysis of our city. I have no problem with people stating the issues and talking about what needs to be done to resolve them. I do have a problem with throwing needless insults and a general condescending attitude in with these discussions. It brings the whole forum down.

I agree that Unions are one of Duluth's biggest issues. Unions hinder natural competition and makes it difficult to enter a market. Unions once served a useful purpose during the heyday of the industrial revolution, but they are now outdated behemoths that no longer exist to serve their members.

I also agree that there are way too many people here that would rather see a crumbling, useless building downtown than a beautiful, safe and active one. So many developments have been stalled or halted completely simply because a vocal minority won't let the past go. I have no problem with restoring old, historic buildings of significance to make them useful again. The problem is you can always find something historically interesting in every building's past. You can't save them all, if that were the case, most of America's great cities would look very different.

[knke0402]

Originally Posted by chublake

I'm sorry KnKe0402, I did mess up with an extra "ago" and BFF rather than BWW. I didn't proof it. And, I totally agree with your analysis of Duluth and what needs to be addressed in the area.

The City of Duluth is not business friendly unless you have the right last name. It's been that way for years and until the voters change the way they vote, that's what Duluth will continue to do. Duluth is dependent totally on service industry. Thus, the great discussions on restaurants that locate there because of tourism, basically. There is basically no industry to support growth in the area. The City, County and State fight everybody. Environmental studies, permitting processes, etc. make it not worth the cost to companies. Environmentalists put up a fight about everything. There is nothing wrong with protecting nature, I love animals and clean air and all that. Go elsewhere in the Country and you will see that development can exist and areas can flourish with still keeping a balance. They are just closed minded in Duluth and then we are back to the way the people vote there.

Property taxes, fees, etc. in that area are out of control. Our property taxes in Alabama... beautiful home w/pool and taxes of $625 a year. Industry is pouring into the State. Hyundai, Mercedes Benz, a huge steel plant down near Mobile (yep, a stone's throw from the Gulf of Mexico!!). Thousands of jobs. This resulted in all kinds of new stores we wanted moving in to fill the void of all the people who had disposable income. It's only natural. Minnesota has too many government workers and businesses are freaked out about the "Union" culture in that area.

Until those issues are addressed, you aren't going to get the Macy's or Nordstroms.

I wish the best for Duluth. But, you need to make it business friendly. I think that is why you are going to see alot of development over in the Cloquet/Esko area. They realize what Duluth is not doing and they are going to fill the void.

Look on the bright side. When we come up there we can't wait to go to Chop Sticks and Sammy's pizza. You have them, we don't.

Oh well.... you are the people that live there and can make all this happen. Good luck, I will be reading with great interest to see how things develop for you!!

I thought you meant BWW, so I just throught it out there, haha.

I as well wish the very best for Duluth. Duluth has always been a great place.-A place I always wanted to live-and I just moved here. But there are huge, huge problems here.

It is a place with great geography and views and wonderful potential. It is a place that is completely differnt than the rest of the State. I hope it can grow and mature into a wonderful independent region, but the kinks NEED to be ironed out.

How is Don Ness? I dont know his history-is he liked ? is a good politician? He is young i do know that,

[bbtrips]

Hey everyone,

A friend of mine said that they were in Culvers in Superior, and noticed that it listed Duluth as "coming soon". Do you know if this is the one planned at "Duluth Hill", or is there another planned somewhere else? Also, when you go on their website, they show a hollow circle for Duluth.

I see the new Menards in Hermantown has one, or possibly two outlots, and I think one would do very well right there. That McDonalds is always packed, and you can hardly get in the drive thru.

Really amazed by the work that they're doing for the Residence Inn! I can't believe everything has been cleared.

Also, drove by the Weiland Hayes block, and the new awning for the Justin Paul salon looks outstanding! Can't wait to see what else comes to that area, and if this will spur development east of there in some of the other older buildings.

Anyway, just wanted to share a few things I've noticed. Anyone else have any other news! Gotta get that BWW up this way soon!!

[aluminumpork]

Originally Posted by bbtrips

A friend of mine said that they were in Culvers in Superior, and noticed that it listed Duluth as "coming soon". Do you know if this is the one planned at "Duluth Hill", or is there another planned somewhere else?

I'd assume this is one that was planned at the Duluth Hill site. When speaking to my friend about the Texas Roadhouse, he always referred to both Texas Roadhouse and Culvers.

Originally Posted by bbtrips

Really amazed by the work that they're doing for the Residence Inn! I can't believe everything has been cleared.

I know! The first time I drove by I had to do a double-take. Really changes the whole area and kind of freaked me out at first. I'm not used to being able to see Cub Foods from the corner of Anderson and Central Entrance. I hope they start construction soon. I also hope they've successfully found a restaurant to partner with.

Originally Posted by bbtrips

Also, drove by the Weiland Hayes block, and the new awning for the Justin Paul salon looks outstanding!

Woah! I'll have to check that out. I was just down there yesterday and didn't notice anything new out front. Must be really fresh.

[bbtrips]

That's awesome - any word on when they will begin construction on Texas Roadhouse? I've been to one in the Twin Cities, and it was so good!

I just looked on the CMRA sales website, and they still have the restaurant property for sale with the RI project: CMRA: Properties For Sale

But, if you scroll down a bit further (the 7th item on that page, I believe), they show the same picture, with the word "SOLD" on it - talking about Central Entrance land?? Not sure if that is the same thing, or if it was a parcel adjoining.

In their August newsletter - http://www.cmrasells.com/PDFfiles/CMRAnews_Aug07.pdf

They talked about TWO parcels - totalling 1.5 acres (in the RI project area).

Really hoping something good comes there - it is a great spot. Yeah, I did a double-take too - really freaky seeing it so open right there!

I think the Justin Paul awnings just went up today. Was very surprised because I drove by yesterday too I hope they do GREAT there!

Oh, also - was searching around, and I found an article on the Star Tribune website about furniture stores in Minnesota. They said that the HOM stores in Duluth and Fargo were faring better than the ones in the Twin Cities during the economic downturn. Interesting, huh?

Here's a link to the article: Some room to grow in the furniture biz

[aluminumpork]

So... interesting little tidbit of rumor. I was at the city council meeting last night and they were talking about the Omnimax for a few minutes. I guess profits are down considerably from last year (no surprise there) and that the city might be interested selling the Omnimax property to Marcus. Evidently Duluth 10 is doing extremely well and Marcus may have expressed interested in expanding and building additional theatres (Duluth 15? ). This is PURE rumor, but it was talked about publicly at the council meeting so there must be some merit to it.

I would love to Marcus expand Duluth 10. I believe the Omnimax is subsidized by the city using tourism dollars (correct me if I'm wrong here), and selling it off during this difficult financial time would make sense for the city. It was stated that something would probably happen within the next 2 - 3 years on this.

[duluthian2008]

Wow that would be awesome if Duluth 10 expanded! I wonder where they would expand? Would the knock down the Omnimax? Or would they add a megascreen to the theaters? Marcus Theatres have megascreens at all of their well doing locations. Could Duluth be next? But really where would they expand? There is no room! I wonder if they built the theaters so that another floor could be added if needed? Or maybe they would build a two story addition.

[aluminumpork]

I think the assumption was that Marcus would expand into the Omnimax space, remodeling as they saw fit.

[duluthian2008]

But how could they modify the Omnimax space in order to house theaters? The omnimax is so weirdly configured that it seems as if it would be impossible to remodel into theaters. I guess they would know if they could.

Btw the old First Photo building on Central Entrance is pending.