The Spirit Valley business district sits just east of I-35 and includes a variety of businesses along Grand and Central avenues including the Super One grocery store in the foreground. (Photo by Cory Fechner, Liftoff Aerials)
The Spirit Valley business district in West Duluth took a serious hit this year when Kmart closed but business leaders and city officials believe the area is ripe for a makeover that could match successful redevelopment work in Lincoln Park.
Robert’s Home Furnishings owner Bob Rothenberger and longtime associate Rick Lowney stand at the counter inside the Lincoln Park store. Rothenberger has worked in the neighborhood for almost 50 years and recently retired, closing the store.
Before Lincoln Park became a craft district lined with trendy breweries, colorful boutiques and new restaurants it was called the West End — where furniture was king and Duluthians shopped for sofas, beds and dining room tables. Those days are pretty much over.
Zenith City Revival LLC owner Mitchell Holmes, left, and designer Kori Kneeland stand in the kitchen of a condominium model at Building No. 12 in downtown Duluth. Zenith City Revival LLC spent more than two years renovating the historic hotel property and is now marketing space inside the building.
Developers have completed major renovation work on a 19th Century Duluth hotel and will market the condominium space to buyers interested in modern downtown living.
Zenith City Revival LLC announced last week a model condominium and more than two floors of unfinished residential space is now open for showing in the rechristened Building No. 12. The historic four-story property at 12 N. Lake Ave. was constructed in 1890 and most recently known as the Gardner Hotel.
Duluth Reader publisher and West Theater owner Robert Boone has purchased 321 N. Central Ave., next to his West Theater renovation project. The building, constructed in 1913, is the former Alhambra Theater and most recently housed Interior Tomato, a hydroponic gardening store.
An alternative weekly newspaper publisher currently renovating a West Duluth movie theater has purchased a second historic but mostly forgotten theater adjacent to his current project.
A 19th Century Duluth pump house was converted into living space by Elisabeth Congdon in 1937. The property will be open during the Duluth Preservation Alliance Historic Property Tour Sept. 16.
Duluth has dozens of spectacular waterfront properties with amazing Lake Superior views but only one home has a front porch featuring metal wave deflectors and living room windows equipped with hurricane shutters.
A new informational sign will be installed at the recently refurbished Snively Monument on West Skyline Parkway. The Duluth Preservation Alliance will hold a sign dedication ceremony on Monday, Aug. 13, 3 p.m., at the Snively Monument, located just east of the Stewart Creek Bridge on the scenic roadway.
Joel Russell stands outside Central Sales, a surplus store his family has owned for more than 30 years.
An iconic and ruggedly unique surplus store in the heart of West Duluth has been put up for sale as its longtime owner prepares to fight a serious health issue.
Shanty Bottle Shop owner Pam Crotty waves goodbye outside the front door of her business. Crotty has sold the store after nearly four decades in beer, wine and liquor sales.
An iconic, family-run East Hillside liquor store will change hands next month after four generations served the public’s rapidly changing tastes in beer, wine and spirits.
Isola Design and Mavis Furniture principal and owner Jill Isola Johnson, holding her dog Pepper, stands with Assistant Designer Mireille Kidd, left, and intern Kyla Schulte in the new office furniture showroom.
An interior designer responsible for cutting-edge urban commercial properties like the Whole Foods Co-op and Canal Park Brewery is opening a new office furniture showroom in a historic Downtown Duluth building.
MPPL Financial President Scott Wallschlaeger stands outside 309 W. Superior St., the old Zelda Theatre building.
The NorShor isn’t the only historic theater seeing a new life in downtown Duluth.
MPPL Financial purchased the former Zelda Theatre in December and plans to move its operations from a historic bank building in Proctor to 309 W. Superior St. this summer. Renovations are underway both inside the heavily altered building and outside on Superior Street, where the city of Duluth recently launched a major road reconstruction project.
The building had been home to Peterson Anderson Flowers since the 1980s.
According to the website cinematreasures.org, the Zelda Theatre was constructed in 1914. It was designed by architects Wangenstein and Guliuson for owner W.M. Abrahamson, who named the building after a daughter. A University of Minnesota Duluth Kathryn A. Martin Library photo shows the building once boasted a marble facade, a grand second story archway and 15-foot high pillars framing the entrance.
“Unfortunately, almost nothing is left of the original building,” said MPPL president Scott Wallschlaeger. “It’s really a shame because the front of the building was amazing.”
According to the Duluth history website zenithcity.com, the theater closed in 1927, becoming the Zelda Inn and later Boyce Drug Store.
Bent Paddle principals, from left, Pepin Young, Bryon and Karen Tonnis and Colin and Laura Mullen gather around a table featuring a Boundary Waters Canoe Area map inside the new brewery tap room.
Bent Paddle Brewing will open its new tap room in the former Enger Olson Furniture store at 1832 W. Michigan St. on April 12.
The Ursa Minor Brewery team includes, from left, General Manager Andrew Scrignoli, Head Brewer Mark Hugus and Chief of Operations Ben Hugus. The brewery plans to hire 10 employees.
The newest brewery in Lincoln Park will feature a patio, a pizza oven and a plan to create adventurous, small-batch beer in a former cracker factory.
Ursa Minor Brewing announced this week it will open a five-barrel brewing operation, tap room and offices at 2415 W. Superior St. Brothers and co-founders Ben and Mark Hugus said they hope to begin serving thirsty customers by mid-summer.
Cases were loaded with pastry and shelves decorated with cookie jars at Johnson’s Lakeside Bakery in this 2015 photo.
Eastside donut and cookie lovers will lose a longtime sweet supplier this spring but a potential plan is in the works to install another bakery at the same address which has fed the neighborhood for more than six decades.
The Empire Block opened in 1892 on Tower Avenue in the heart of downtown Superior. Newly restored apartments will be open for showing in February.
A meticulous, top-to-bottom restoration of a massive 19th Century building in downtown Superior will offer jaw-dropping views for new residents, historic charm for new businesses and a boost to city center redevelopment efforts.
A small and stylish boutique hotel — the first of its kind in Duluth — is set to open this spring in the Lincoln Park craft district.
The husband and wife team of Andy Matson and Chelsy Whittington plan to open the three-suite hotel on the second floor of a historic building they recently purchased at 1923 W. Superior Street. The new accommodations will be called the Hotel Pikku, which means small or odd in Finnish.
Matson and Whittington said travelers who want to experience a trendy, centrally-located neighborhood away from typical Duluth tourist areas will stay at the Pikku Hotel. Clients or patrons of other Lincoln Park businesses are also potential lodgers. The cozy, completely renovated rooms with kitchenettes will rent for between $100 and $150 a night.
