New stores coming to Duluth, anyone know of any? (Cloquet: warehouses, rail)

[duluthian2008]

Where is that new multi-modal center going? I read the article on it and the skywalk would house shops and retail but where would the transportation center be? And that would be going over the freeway? Wow! That is going to have to be pretty wide!

[nateduluthnative]

Originally Posted by duluthian2008

I've been to a few two story Targets, including Nicollet's Malls in Downtown Minneapolis. So far all the ones I have seen are clean, and just because the ones you have been to were dirty doesnt mean they all are .

You cant develop land out by Spirit. Spirit Mountain owns a large amount of the land surrounding it and that area is were environmentalists really fight development. There are only two places you can build, both are right next to the freeway with great visibility, but are also far away from a free way entrance or exit. Plus the landscape is so rocky and hilly that it is really expensive to build. But both parcels for sale are over 40 ares, they really could hold some nice retail development. Hopefully those will sell! The Miller Hill Mall areas roads are all being expanded at the current moment to ease traffic and plans for Central Entrance are in the works too. Downtown Duluth would have to be a two or more story Target and it would have to go in a pre built building. There are no open lots. Walmart tried to build a Supercenter back in early 2000 outside of town just up the shore and the communities and towns out there shot it down before it could get off the ground. Central High School is an option, but that wont be available for a while. We'll just have to wait and see!

Spirit Mtn. could have had an upscale hotel and semi-private golf course years ago, but the "environmentalists" killed that in the early 2000's

[duluthian2008]

Yes I remember that, thats why I was sort of refferring to were I said its "where environmentalist really fight development" (Ha sorry for saying were instead of where). Its really sad that that has to happen up there. A golf course and hotel would have done wonders. Its the same thing with Clough Island. My family had a part in developing the island and were planning to build a nice upscale neighborhood on the island. But once again the environmentalists fought it and now the huge mixed use project might be dead.

[jasper1372]

Originally Posted by duluthian2008

I was just researching today on some retail developments happening in cities around the same size as Duluth with metros that are also around the same size also. I came across Souix Falls and Rapid City, ND. Souix Falls is larger than Duluth but about 40,000, but Rapid City is around 40,000 smaller than Duluth. What I found interesting was both of these cities have huge retail developments being built right now. Souix Falls has a smaller metro than Duluth, but has four huge retail developments (600,000+ sqf) and one that is being built that is over 1 million square feet of solid retail. The city also is gaining doubles of many of its largest retailers in these developments. Rapid city also has a few large retail developments going on. So this once again peaked my interest into why Duluth has nothing like this happening. Supposedly these cities have these developments going on because they are the largest cities in the state, which I believe, and also due to the distance from other large cities. But isnt that the same thing with Duluth? We are the fourth largest city in the state and we are a great distance from the other large cities in the state. Why dont we have any retail developments developments happening that are as large as Souix Fall's or Rapid City's developments? I believe this once again could be due to retailers fear of failing in the city. It just doesnt make sense to me. Anyone else have any thoughts?

I am trying very hard to find some new retail information out for us. Seems as if Duluth is in a little lull right now.

My wife and always laugh when we're traveling around the USA when we see some new development going on. We always stutter over saying the words "new construction" or "new development"....since around Duluth there never seems to be much going on for a town of this size and so we're very unused to using those words....lol.

I'm from Grand Rapids (MN) originally and although I don't have the statistics to back me up.....I'll bet per capita there are twice as many businesses (retail etc...) in Grand Rapids as there are in Duluth. I've never been in a city the size of Duluth that has such a dearth of both new and existing businesses to choose from when shopping.

[jasper1372]

Originally Posted by duluthian2008

Today I found some more retail developments that are planned for the area, although these are on the smaller size.

In Cloquet we all know that there is Superior (Whitewater) Crossing being developed, but there also is the Cloquet Business Park that will have some retail in it. I have attached the site plan for the development. They have a little half a cul-du-sac of commercial lots for sale, so far two have sold. Below is the link for the site plan.
http://www.co.carlton.mn.us/Departme...20ED%20Web.pdf

In Esko there is a retail development planned called "Esko Town Center", it is a 50 acre newly designed private retail park along Interstate 35. Now this seems a little sketchy to me being the site plan does not look very professional and the first and second phase do not quite make sense. Plus there are not facts or figures on this development. To me it seems like the developer of this development has not planned out the phases very well. Usually a succesful development will put the big box retailers in first in order to draw people to the development. Then they will put in the smaller retail buildings. This development has their phases the opposite way. Doesnt really make sense to me. Here is the site plan.
http://www.co.carlton.mn.us/Departme...nter%20PDF.pdf

And the final retail development I found was in Moose Lake. This one is a little far off from us in Duluth, but for those of you who live closer to Moose Lake I thought I would post this. This development is called "Moose Lake Retail Park" and is a development of commercial and retail outlots. The site already has a retailer that is open, Alco. The site is a 60 acre Retail Park under development with a 17 acre Phase I retail development and a 35 acre Phase II commercial development. The second phase is a lot of land, I could see Walmart Supercenter building here. The site also will have a new Moose Lake School to the south of it.
http://www.co.carlton.mn.us/Departme...20Web%20ED.pdf

Ok...somebody, please anybody, give me some details on the Superior Crossing retail development that is supposed to be built in Cloquet next to the freeway.

For a development that is rumoured to be the largest development north of the twin cities...there sure isn't much information available on it.

In your post (above) you too alude to it....but no details. You've got info on three other much smaller developments....but nobody ever has any information on the largest development.

I've asked around and it appears it's a big secret :-) Every now and then there will be a sentance or two mentioning it in the news paper....but never anything more.

[duluthian2008]

Superior Crossings is a very quiet development at the moment. I search all the time on the internet for it and find little things on it. Some are in newspaper articles and some are in the City of Cloquet City Council's minutes. Re-Cor keeps all of their developments quiet, I am not quite sure why, but they do . Have you looked at Superior Crossings site yet? Also due to the Summer 2010 opening planned, and that being a year and a half away, that might be the reason for limited amount of information. The development I am more scared about is the Hermantown retail development, thats suppose to be opening this summer and I have not heard a single thing on it nor I have I seen anything happening at the site!

Here is the link for Superior Crossings if you have not already looked at the site.

Real Estate Corporation of America - Current Projects

Dont be too worried about Superior Crossings, they just put it on their site a little over a month ago.

[bbtrips]

I was wondering what else could go into the spot in Hermantown Center that is slated for 154,000 sf of retail. I did a search, and found that there were a bunch of Wal Mart Supercenters that were 154,000 sf, but also found some Lowe's that were that size, such as Torrance, CA.

Do you think it could be a Lowe's going into that spot, perhaps? Another thought was another Cub Foods, but I suppose that would be too big for that. I had heard Cub wanted another store, but that is pretty close to the other one.

[duluthian2008]

I had researched on the Hermantown Center about possible retailers for the large big box and the only retailer that came up with that square footage and site plan was Walmart Supercenter. But being we all know it wont be that and we all know it wont be a Super Target I think any large retailer is up for grabs. The prototype stores I found for Lowes were around 117,000 with a 30,000 square foot garden center. But the store went all the way and above 154,000 square feet too. I am not sure if Re-Cor was in talks with Walmart and Walmart was planning to go there but also was working on its Hermantown store at the same time. Maybe Walmart was using Re-Cor's site as a fall back if they couldnt get the expansion to the Walmart passed. I am not sure what happened but I do know that Hermantown Center was slated to have a Walmart Supercenter. Now my guess is that they will try to land any anchor retailer. Lowes would be nice, a little far up the road, plus I still would like one next to Sam's Club. Lowes is the only retailer I can really think of filling that space. Maybe they will have Lowes go in there and then add two more smaller big box stores to make up for the extra square feet. That would be their best bet. They are going to need a lot of retailers to draw people up there and out of the Miller Hill Mall area.

Cub Foods stores average 60,000 square feet, and a location at Hermantown Center would be too close to their other store! Sorry . I didnt know they were looking for another location! Thats great! Maybe if that Garfield Avenue retail development that is suppose to have a Super Target or Walmart Supercenter in it gets kicked off maybe just maybe Cub would locate in there too! Ohh the possibilities!

[abrockman]

What is the Garfield Ave. project you are talking about? The sad part about Duluth is that 95 percent of the developments that are supposed to happen never do. I dont understand this city at all.

[bbtrips]

It would be great if the Garfield project ever got going! I can't even imagine having a Super Target and a Cub right there! I think it would do very well, considering the amount of traffic that goes by that location. Have you heard if it has gotten any traction, and what it might look like? I'm assuming it would take the vacant land where the railroad is/used to be?