Business

Hot Property: At a tricky spot in Duluth, bids are let for an apartment building

For the Minnesota Star Tribune

May 18, 2018 at 3:23AM

(The Minnesota Star Tribune)

Address: 10 Piedmont Av., Duluth

Type: Supportive housing

Units: 50

Height: Four stories

Developer: Center City Housing Corp.

Architect: LHB

Details: Bids were being let this month for construction of Garfield Square Apartments, a 50-unit low-income housing project set for a now-vacant parcel in Duluth's Lincoln Park neighborhood.

Nonprofit developer Center City Housing Corp. teamed with the city's Economic Development Authority to land $7.5 million in tax-exempt state housing infrastructure bonds for the $12 million project. It's aimed at providing a new option for residents at risk for homelessness who are now living at the city-owned Esmond Building, the former Seaway Hotel.

In late March, city officials approved a series of planning measures allowing for the building's construction on what is described as a "challenging," irregularly shaped parcel at the busy three-way intersection of Garfield Avenue, West Superior Street and Piedmont Avenue, a spot known as the Point of Rocks.

The lot has a steep topography. Its elevation rises by 80 feet from front to back, making only a portion of it buildable. In response, architecture firm LHB developed a site plan with a 21-space surface parking lot at the rear beneath the steep slope, winning a variance from city codes which called for 44 spaces.

The construction effort will also include a significant amount of rock removal to create an underground stormwater holding tank.

Don Jacobson