Duluth Housing Development Stalled For 2nd Month At Former Seaway Hotel Site

DULUTH, Minn. – It was in the middle of August when FOX 21 broke the news about construction temporarily halted on a new housing development in Duluth’s Lincoln Park. Now two months later, the structure remains just a frame of wood.

Merge Urban Development is behind the 45-unit apartment building (Urbane 218) on the former West Superior Street site of the Esmond Building and Seaway Hotel before that.

At the time, the developer told FOX 21, engineers were making changes to the heating and cooling design at the request of the city’s Building Department, and that a final piece of financing for the project through the Local Initiatives Support Corporation (LISC) wasn’t expected to be completed until the end of August.

Rendering of Urbane 218

On Wednesday, LISC Exec. Director Sumair Sheikh released the following statement to FOX 21:

“Construction financing is critical to continue the work at the Urbane 218 site.

We are continuing to work with Merge and our national team to secure required information, complete due diligence and bring this much needed housing deal to close. This is a complex project and timelines are difficult to predict in these cases. What is certain is that the Urbane 218 deal is important to our housing needs, and we are working hard to bring it to close to further benefit LP and our community as a whole.”

Krause-Anderson Construction Company is the construction manager for the apartment complex.

Merge is also in talks to bring a local business owner to the first floor as a retail tenant.

In October of 2022, the Duluth News Tribune reported the project over budget at around $12 million to construct.

In return, the Duluth Economic Development Authority increased its tax increment financing package for the project to nearly $1.8 million, according to the DNT.

In August, the project had about five more months of work before welcoming tenants, according to Krause-Anderson.