Plans for U-Haul at West Duluth Kmart Site Rejected

DULUTH, Minn. – The future of the former Kmart in West Duluth remains up in the air.

The Duluth Planning Commission unanimously voted down plans in early February that would have transformed it into a U-Haul mini-storage site, citing it did not meet the retail development standards for Spirit Valley.

“Generally in this type of neighborhood location it would be atypical to have something that is a warehouse style use,” says Adam Fulton, City of Duluth’s Deputy Director of Planning and Economic Development.  “Instead it would be more typical to have something that’s more activated storefront.  The neighborhood mentioned a number of times the desire for a greater level of retail presence and more foot traffic in this area.”

Despite the setback, Fulton says the building is still in great shape, and they remain optimistic that the current owners of the building will find a new use for it.  “The hope is that the ownership group will find another possible tenant for the site, and proceed with the development of the site as reasonably as possible.”

Options for the site could include splitting up the 86-thousand square foot plus building into smaller store sites.