Four Duluth Entities to Renovate a Long-Troubled Property

DULUTH, Minn. — Four Duluth entities are teaming up to renovate a long-troubled property, the Brownstone Apartment Building on East 4th Street.

The vacant and blighted building  has been a part of Duluth for the last 130 years.

It caught the eye of local groups, who have a shared concern for community health and well-being.

Now, they’re bringing the complex back to life.

One-Roof Community Housing took ownership of the building five years ago, with the intent to fix it up.

After pandemic impacts and financial challenges, One-Roof realized they were in over their head.

That’s when they turned to the city for help.

“I think everyone has driven by this building, if they live in town for very long. It’s the entrance to the East Hillside neighborhood and it looks really tough, it probably looks worse than any other building in town,” said Mike Schraepfer, President of Heirloom Property Management.

Heirloom manages more than 750 properties in the area.

“We’ve fixed up a lot of buildings like this, but they’re typically smaller and more in the neighborhood, and this ones right on the main street. So I think just seeing it enough made us interested.”

In 2020, heirloom presented the city with a renovation plan.

This plan involved the help of One-Roof, Superior Credit Union, and Essentia Health.

Heirloom was officially granted ownership three weeks ago.

“There’s such a need for housing that people did live here even in the previous condition that it was in. With the investment that’s going into it, it will be essentially a brand new building in a brown stone shell. It will be much safer, it’ll still be affordable,” Schraepfer stated.

The apartment complex will now be called “Brewery Creek Terrace.”

It will feature 21 remodeled housing units, priced at $900 to $1200 a month.

One of the business partners involved with the restoration is Essentia Health.

“We know that there are places of our community that have challenges. We need to partner with people and rise to meet those challenges. It’s going to be extremely exciting when families move in here across the street,” said Essentia CEO, Dr. David Herman.

Herman explained that Essentia has been investing in Duluth’s housing for more than 20 years.

He also stated that it’s important to keep the city’s historical buildings alive and healthy.

“I think that any organization or any city certainly wants to preserve its past and remember its legacy, but the most important investments we can make are in the future. We will have a community to hand off to those that follow us, and we want to handoff a better community than we received. That requires thoughtful thinking, thoughtful investment, and the partnerships like you saw here today.”

The project is estimated at $4 million in restoration funds.

The work is underway, and the interior of the building has been gutted.

Heirloom said they plan to have the place move-in ready in 9 to 12 months.