Mayor Reinert Asks For Communication From Kathy Cargill After Park Point Home Purchases

Reinert said Kathy Cargill has purchased at least 20 properties so far.

DULUTH, Minn. — The future of Park Point’s landscape is uncertain.  Mayor Roger Reinert said  more than 20 properties on the world’s longest freshwater sandbar have been purchased by a member of the Cargill family.

North Shore LS is the company behind the purchases. The LLC is owned by Kathy Cargill, who is married to one of the heirs to the Cargill holdings.

So far, Kathy Cargill has not answered questions about their plans for the properties, which has some residents on the Point uneasy.

Mayor Reinert sent a letter to Kathy Cargill in February requesting plans for the properties, but he said he’s gotten no response.

The mayor hopes whatever housing is demolished will be replaced, but he believes that is unlikely.

The Star Tribune reports that of the 20 parcels bought by Cargill, 12 are homes, and nine of those homes have been torn down, with plans in place to tear down the remaining three.

“The best possible outcome would be a net zero loss of housing. If nine are torn down, I’d like to see nine homes built and put back on the market. That seems unlikely given the little bit of information we have,” said Reinert.

While there remain many unknowns, Reinert says public beach access on Park Point will never become private.

“I could not be more clear on this,” said Reinert. “The beach is public property, it will always be public property regardless of who owns any adjacent parcels. The access to the beach is public property. Those street ends that we’re familiar with using, everyone’s got their favorite one, those are public access points. Over my dead body will that change.”

Reinert plans to write another letter to Kathy Cargill asking that she or a representative of her company meet with him and perhaps Park Point residents about plans for the properties.  He’s also asked the city attorney to investigate zoning and other regulations that may apply to future construction and demolitions on Park Point.