Developers Closing in on Redeveloping Esmond Building

Now, 69 of 70 tenants have relocated and recently the HRA has selected a developer to gut the inside of the building and transform it.

February 5, 2020

Katharine Huntley,

DULUTH, Minn. – The Esmond Building, formerly known as the Seaway Hotel, is currently waiting for its final tenant to vacate before redevelopment plans can start.

The building once held 70 residents, and 38 of them have now moved into the brand new Garfield Squar Building just down the street.

Back in 2014, the Housing and Redevelopment Authority saved the Esmond Building from being condemned and displacing its residents.

Now, 69 of 70 tenants have relocated and recently the HRA has selected a developer to gut the inside of the building and transform it.

The new developer MN-OZA or Minnesota Opportunity Zone Advisors is looking at plans to turn the Esmond Building into 30 apartments on the 2000 Block of West Superior Street with 8,500 square feet of commercial space on the street level.

The Housing Redevelopment Authority says the goal is to make 20 percent of the units affordable.

“I’ve said from the beginning that I hope that the Esmond can be the cherry on top of the Lincoln Park sundae Lincoln Park has really been doing great things with new businesses with revitalization and the Esmond has just kind of been lingering waiting for this redevelopment to happen,” said Jill Keppers, the Executive Director of the Duluth Housing Redevelopment Authority.

The 38 tenants from the aging Esmond Building are now in the newly built Garfield Square Apartments just down the street.

Instead of the dorm-style living at the Esmond, people now have their own bathrooms and kitchens in their apartments, completely furnished with pots and pans, a television, and bed.

The final tenant in the Esmond Building has until at least the 14th to leave the building.

Meanwhile, the sale of the Esmond is not official yet.

There are still a few things that need to happen before anything is final.

When it does happen, the plan is to gut the building from top to bottom.