St. Mary’s Medical Center to Be Demolished When Vision Northland Completed

The redevelopment will be funded with $12 million in state dollars and headed by SEH local consulting firm.

DULUTH, Minn.- As the new Vision Northland building for Essentia Health goes up in Duluth the decades-old St. Mary’s Hospital will come down.

Essentia Health says the Medical Center will be demolished on East Third Street after the new building is ready for care in the third quarter of 2023.

The oldest part of St. Mary’s hospital is almost 100 years old, built in 1923.

But hospital leaders say it has required too much money to keep up — about $12 million annually and is not viable to keep using.

No word yet on what’s planned for the space when the building comes down.

“My son was born there so I certainly sympathize with that, I was born there obviously my memories of that day are a little bit foggy but people have, just this emotional attachment to this building,” said Louie St. George, External Communications Manager.

“We respect that, we understand that and that was a huge part of our process as we considered uses for this building and what might become of it,” he said.

The redevelopment will be funded with $12 million in state dollars and headed by SEH local consulting firm.

It will stay open right until the new hospital opens for patients.