Could this be the site of Duluth’s next hot spot?
March 18, 2012 at 7:00 pm in Duluth News Tribune
Developer of the Woodland Middle School site says prospects for retail and restaurant development will depend partly on ‘grand entrance’ option at UMD. Continue Reading
Build build! I can’t wait for all the NIMBY folks to come out against this.
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And then somehow blame the school board for the inaction.
Because god knows, the only problem in the Duluth/Superior metro area is the Red Plan.
Sounds like a very risky, and aggressive development plan. Hopefully it does come to fruition.
Duluth/Superior, the community of NIMBY! Prove us wrong fellow Duluthians.
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That`s because it`s already not in your back yard. Who you kidding?
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BTW the parking estimates are really unrealistic. There aren’t enough spaces for what’s planned.
783 bedrooms and there are 441 parking spaces? Get ready for about 100 additional cars on the street if those numbers hold. And 81 parking spaces for retail? 81? That’s it? That’s great if you plan to have a flower shop and a liquor store, but anything remotely more ambitious will require more parking than that or people will go elsewhere.
It looks to me like the site is overbuilt. Too much going on in too small an area. I don’t think a UMD grand entrance is really the key here, it’s just a smallish site where too much is planned.
A 5 story parking garage? Really? C’mon.
Hot debate. What do you think?
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The whole purpose is to promote a walk-able campus which is the past and the future. Merica is ridiculously car centric.
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I think this is great. I used to live about 2 blocks from Woodland Middle School when I went to UMD, and I walked every time. It only took about 10 minutes. Hopefully they design it safely for students to walk to campus, because then they wouldn’t even need a car. Housing developments close to campus like this will probably help keep traffic volumes down, too.
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If you would have fully read the article, it states, “His track record includes developing Boulder Ridge and Summit Ridge campus housing in Duluth. ”
I have a feeling he knows where most students live.
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UMD is a commuter school because there’s never been adequate housing on campus or near-by.
I’m pretty sure this guy isn’t nearly as concerned with where students are living now as he is with where they’ll be living once his buildings are ready.
Personally, I think anyone that’s willing to sink that kind of money into a project and already has proven success with his other housing projects, probably has his ducks pretty well in a row.
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This is easily within walking distance, what are you talking about? When I went there I lived on 25th and Jefferson and walked. As for the parking spaces they also mentioned underground parking for the buildings, so you need to factor that in. The other side of this is that they are trying to create a more urban campus neighborhood; they used Dinkytown as an example so they would be less need for students to have cars. That would be a good thing for everybody: the neighborhood residents, the environment, the students (parents?) wallet and help with the nation’s overwhelming education debt. Aren’t you supposed to be broke when your a college student? How does that jibe with driving an Audi?
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Racer X I agree with a lot of what you are saying, but I guess I am just skeptical that a 22 acre site can really accomplish all this. It seems like you could have a nice retail area or a nice apartment complex, but having both in such a small site just seems to be expecting too much and will result in a minimally interesting retail area and parking problems.
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Have you noticed how happy the snowbirds are when they spend the summer at UMD? I think there’s something to that…being around younger people on a campus where new ideas, possibilities and just positive attitudes are alive. There are a lot of folks who will tell you that University was the best time of their lives for that reason, and for those who are retired (or not), the convenience of having an indoor walkway that matches the downtown skywalk in distance, walking proximity to a supermarket, coffee shop, fitness center, library – these are things that future 55+ will want. These will be the children of the widows who ended up moving into a studio apartment in a downtown high-rise. They don’t want that, so get ready for developments that include fun, fitness, good food, places to go with friends, and most importantly, a mix of ages. One thing I remember my grandma saying (God Bless) is ‘I’ve never seen so many old people in my life!’ at the senior high rise next to the Incline Station (great building, but it promotes a warehousing of our elders who worked very hard their whole lives to find an apartment a little bigger than what you’d see at the ‘Y’. Having that interaction among the ages is a win-win: from what I’ve seen the students are (usually) willing to help out with small things while the older residents don’t have to worry about needing a car or even a bus pass if the majority of things (food, fitness, the add-on St. Luke’s Clinic, library, and this will allow UMD to really start having fun with their University for Seniors program with so many living close by). If it’s carefully designed with input from everyone, frankly, I’d rather see this than the now-ripped apart student rental houses that will have to be torn down (who on earth will buy those Woodland Ave houses by Woodland Jr? If they do nothing and more students head for Boulder Ridge, I guarantee you’ll see Section 8, group homes or halfway houses all over the place).
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I like it. The City should build a pedestrian underpass under Woodland.
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This sounds like a wonderful project. Student housing near campus is sorely needed and the location is perfect for walking to campus. I would think the neighbors would be better off with this type of development than the current home rental situation which seems to get so much bad press.
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I think Proctor’s mayor should speak up against this…….
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If people think this is going to eliminate converting single family homes into college rentals they crazy. Most students would rather be with 4,5 or 6 of their friends in a house. This development is great, but don’t kid yourself and think it is going to stop the college rental houses.
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Nobody said it would erase the use of single family homes as rentals, but what it will do is ease the pressure on the UMD neighborhoods. Also remember the flack about high rental prices here? This will help with that. Thirdly it states in the article that some of the apartments will have 4 bedrooms.
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How will it bring rent down? Campus Park didn’t and neither did Boulder Ridge. This new development isn’t going to not take less than the top of the market.
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Supply and demand, c’mon. We have higher rents because of a shortage of rental units.
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has anyone out there actually looked at the current rate any rental unit goes for. It is ridiculously expensive. An affordable decent 2 bedroom apt is well over $800 a month. I would also like to mention that I currently live just over a block away from this development and we are still waiting to be included in the area mailing. I guess it is because once this development is in place the City wants to avoid the conversation of my lack of property value. it will leave no option but to want to sell. I did buy a house across the street from a strip mall for a reason.
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It was supposed to say “I did NOT buy a house across the street mall for a reason.”
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It was supposed to say “I did NOT buy a house across the street from a strip mall for a reason.”
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JKT: look at what this guy charges for a bedroom at Boulder Ridge. Houses near UMD are way cheaper. On lives college houses! Penalize the bad ones and celebrate the good ones!
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