Four Old Buildings to be Demolished in Tower

Harbor Dredging Project Sparks Development

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What used to be a swampy area on Highway 169 is now a gateway to Lake Vermillion.

Tower’s new mayor is taking charge and steering the rundown Iron Range city in a new direction.

It’s a plan that has been about 20 years in the works, and now the Tower harbor is officially dredged.

In just a few months, the area will become a beautiful marina.

Digging up 20,000 cubic yards of material has done a lot more than just make space.

It has triggered an economic boom that many believe has been a long time coming.

When you close your eyes and picture what Tower could look like, it’s a pretty exciting feeling.

“We want to take some of that traffic and have them stay here for a night as opposed to going right through,” said Mayor Josh Carlson, referring to the constant traffic flowing to and from nearby Ely.

In just six months, the harbor has come a long way.

“It’s a little over twice the size of what it once was,” smiled Mayor Carlson.

Carlson has only held the title for a few months and he already has big plans to rebuild the town he calls home.

“The hope is that you’re going to have a nice hotel there to come and stay at,” said Carlson. “You’ll be able to pop right off the lake and onto the dock.”

The 36 room Cobblestone Inn and Suites will feature an indoor pool, large banquet room, and a workout facility.

Developers are expected to dig in this summer.

“This will be the first hotel in Tower in many, many years,” said Mayor Carlson.

While something new goes up, old buildings will come down.

“Since the economic downturn, we’ve had a few businesses that vacated Main Street,” Carlson explained. “Some of those businesses have been gone for a number of years and the buildings are in pretty rough shape.”

With four ugly and dilapidated buildings expected to come down this summer, the mayor hopes that a developer will jump on board and build something new giving the small Iron Range town a face lift that it’s in desperate need of.

There’s no solid timeline on when harbor developments will be finished because Carlson says it’s still a work in progress and new things are expected to be added in the future.