City Responds to NorShor Restoration Delay

City: Contracts With Lenders Are Complicated

Delays, delays and more delays.  Is Duluth’s NorShor Theatre restoration project ever going to actually happen? 

It was in 2013 when the lights of the NorShor were flicked back on in a big press event. 

At the time, construction for the multi-million dollar venue was to start in the summer of 2014, with an opening date by the end of 2015. 

So, what’s the holdup? 

FOX 21 reached out to city leaders to get an update on that question.  

The City of Duluth told FOX 21’s Dan Hanger their side of the deal is virtually finished, but it’s still held up in complicated contracts with lenders. 

“Anytime you’re putting a deal together with multiple parties, there’s always a chance things can blow up,” said David Montgomery, Duluth’s chief administrative officer. “That can happen in any kind of transaction. In any kind of deal.”

Montgomery believes all parties involved still remain committed to making the NorShor a state-of-the-art facility for national, regional and local performers. 

“The devil is in the details in this kind of structure, and we’re just gradually working our way through it,” Montgomery said. 

There are strict rules when using historic state and federal tax credits for projects like the NorShor, according to Montgomery, and those rules can create tax issues for investors.

There is still no specific time table for construction work beginning on the building, but Montgomery is hopeful crews will begin work on the building before the end of 2016.