Duluth Construction Updates (2009, co-op, house)

[aluminumpork]

As the Miller Hill Mall and Latest Stores threads continue to grow exponentially (along with interest from forum members), I thought it would be nice to provide photo updates every few days of our major construction projects. I'm not sure if this is in compliance with what this forum is intended for (didn't see anything in the TOS about this), but I thought people may find it interesting none-the-less for those that don't get to these parts of town often.

So I'll start with the Residence Inn, DECC and Texas Roadhouse projects.

DECC - 07/28/2009 | POV: Top floor of original DECC parking ramp


Residence Inn - 07/28/09 | POV: Cub Foods parking lot


Texas Roadhouse - 07/28/09 | POV: Olive Garden parking lot


I plan on adding a few more locations, and updating this once or twice a week.

[abrockman]

That is very cool. I live in Duluth but it is neat to see the pictures from a different view and also for people who dont live here. Keep them comin.

[nateduluthnative]

Go to DECC.org. Click on construction update, they have a live cam of the arena construction. Also can anyone tell me if the VISI data center and VonJaro building is still going to be built or are they dead or on hold?

[aluminumpork]

Originally Posted by nateduluthnative

Go to DECC.org. Click on construction update, they have a live cam of the arena construction. Also can anyone tell me if the VISI data center and VonJaro building is still going to be built or are they dead or on hold?

I honestly didn't know about that webcam for the DECC, thanks! I still think a high quality photo record over the months will be very cool though. Webcams have poor quality, and I think the placement of the camera in my DECC photo shows the site better.

As far as I know, the VISI data center is dead in the water. According to APEX, "APEX and Minnesota Power continue to target regional marketing efforts at several prospects in the data storage industry, including a number of single tenant and collocation facilities. The team is also working with local and state government officials to determine the scope of public sector data storage and collocation needs as well." So my bet is, no, VISI will not be locating here. Word is, talks with SMDC fell through; thus killing the project as they were one of the anchor tenants.

I haven't heard anything about the Vonjaro tower in a long time, and emails to the developer have gone unanswered. My assumption is that it's off the tracks and will only come back if the economy rebounds.

[ET_MTB]

I just got back from a week vacation in Duluth yesterday. Stayed in a beach house on Lake st. Had a great time. I found a Cub Food about 15 minutes away from where we were staying. I walked into the Whole Foods and the $7 half gallon of orange juice scared me out of there.

[aluminumpork]

Originally Posted by ET_MTB

I walked into the Whole Foods and the $7 half gallon of orange juice scared me out of there.

Heh, yeah, Whole Foods Co-op has a tendency of doing that. I don't do most of my shopping there, but they do carry a lot of items you can't find otherwise. Plus, their breakfast and lunch buffets are great!

[nateduluthnative]

I hope they use big tower cranes for the new arena!

[aluminumpork]

Originally Posted by nateduluthnative

I hope they use big tower cranes for the new arena!

They had (have? I don't remember if it's still there) a big one labeled Knutson for building the ramp. I'm sure they'll use that or something similar on the arena itself.

[duluthian2008]

I think there will be a few big tower cranes. I would think at least two would be there at one time, possibly more. Mortenson used eight cranes at one time for an Arena down south that was about twice the size as ours.... so maybe we can get four!

[aluminumpork]

Rather uninteresting update. Took a look at the Lakewalk Extension East construction and it looks like they've done quite a bit! The trail looks excellent if you wander in there a bit. I'm just wondering why so much land is cleared for a single trail. There's the trail on the left, then a road down the middle and another little road on the right. I'm assuming the road on the right is for construction purposes, but the road down the middle looks very flattened and permanent.

[edit]Could they be doing a dual path from here on out? Both walking and biking/rollerblading? That would be very cool, but also odd that the initial stretch to 36th was single path only.[/edit]

Lakewalk Extension East (36th - 40th) - 07/31/09 | POV: 36th Ave East