Lake Superior Elementary School Transforming into Apartments

DULUTH, Minn.– After the recent closure of the Lake Superior Elementary School in Superior, an agreement was made to revitalize the property into apartment units.

The elementary school closed it’s doors at the end of the school year back in June.

The closure happened cause of a decrease in enrollment as well as budget constraints.

But that opened up the door for a new potential. Back in October, Lake Superior Apartments purchased the property from the school district.

They’re working with the city of Superior with turning the school into a 50-unit affordable apartment complex.

“You know something that we’re normally not seeing when doing new developments. One is we had some of the infrastructure in place that we had to work with. Which helped us be able to make this project viable. Right now, new construction for ground up developments are very tough,” said Ryan Nelson, owner of Lake Superior Apartments.

The City of Superior is feeling confident that this project is in good hands.

“Quite frankly, Ryan and his company they know how to do these projects. We worked with them before on new construction. But he has experience, and he has a vision. And a really good team around him that I have no doubt that it’s going to turn out just the way he describes it,” explained Jason Serck, Economic Development & Port Planning Director for City of Superior.

To help make this happen, the Redevelopment Authority provided a $300,000 grant from its land sales account.

As well as another $500,000 development loan from the city’s affordable housing fund.