No Decision Yet on Effort to Save Kozy Building from Demolition

Legal challenges ask for more time to come up with $50,000 bond, and question who really owns crumbling building

DULUTH, Minn. – One day after the Duluth City Council signed off on the demolition of the condemned Kozy Building, the former owner has launched a last-ditch effort to save the building from destruction.

The case is now being considered by a St. Louis County judge.

Former building owner, Eric Ringsred, has to post a $50,000 bond to save the Pasteret Terrace, also known as the Kozy, while an appeals case is going on. So far, he has been unable to come up with that money. His attorney asked the judge Tuesday to give him more time to come up with the $50,000.

“I feel like the city has ripped off the public,” Ringsred told Fox 21 Monday.

Ringsred is still determined to save the Kozy from the wrecking ball, even after the Duluth City Council voted unanimously to demolish it.

“I have a few years left in my life and I’ve got things that are more important quite frankly to deal with,” he said.

In addition to asking for more time to come up with $50,000, Ringsred is challenging who really owns the building.

The City of Duluth says the Duluth Economic Development Authority, or DEDA, owns the building that has sat vacant for nearly a decade after fire ripped through it in 2010.

A St. Louis County Judge has yet to make a ruling on the newest challenges by Ringsred. The judge could choose to give Ringsred and others more time to come up with the $50,000, or could rule the city has the right to start demolishing the crumbling building.

The judge’s decision is expected in the coming days as the city waits anxiously with a goal of tearing the Kozy down for future development downtown.