Redevelopment at Two Duluth Schools Gets Go-Ahead With Zoning Change
Monday, April 23, 2012 - 10:06pm
By:
Dana Thayer
FOX 21 News, KQDS-DT
DULUTH - Major redevelopments at two Duluth school properties moved forward Monday night.
The city council approved zoning changes for the Kenwood Elementary and Woodland Middle School sites.
Currently, both schools are owned by the district but purchase agreements to private developers are expected to close by the end of the month.
The Woodland Middle School site received unanimous approval to be zoned Residential–Planned.
It is now expected that a deal will be a finalized in the coming weeks and development will start for an eventual 800–unit apartment complex and commercial buildings.
The expected sale of $3 million is expected to help the school district patch up its deficit.
The developer said the next few steps will start to move quickly.
"It's something they'll be able to see the phases of and see the impact, I think it's hard to get a sense of how large this project really is," developer Mark Lambert said. "I think we have a lot of retail, a lot of housing; it's a great thing."
The Kenwood Elementary site, which was also approved for rezoning Monday by a 7-2 vote, would bring in about $250,000 to the district once sold.
A deal is also expected to wrap up at the site in the coming weeks that will convert the building into an apartment complex.