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Tim Meyer is a Duluth architect and community builder writing about Downtown Duluth, politics, business, sports and economic development. Reach him at tim.meyer@meyergroupduluth.com
In the 1980s and 1990s, downtown Fargo, North Dakota, looked like a ghost town after 5 p.m. The sidewalks rolled up, and on weekends the streets were largely empty. The Old Broadway and schooners at Jim Lauerman’s Pub were the only thriving nightspots.
Then North Dakota State University — my alma mater — began moving programs downtown, starting with architecture and landscape architecture. The effort began with a donation from NDSU alumnus John Klai, a North Dakota native who found success designing large-scale casino and hotel projects in Las Vegas.
The NDSU architecture program acquired the former North Dakota School Book Depository building at NP Avenue and 2nd Avenue North, now known as Renaissance Hall. The university later added a new business department building downtown.
What followed was a true renaissance.
Students needed housing. They needed places to eat, gather, shop and socialize. Downtown Fargo developed a nightlife. Developers purchased existing buildings and adaptively reused them for housing, retail, bars and restaurants. The former Hotel Donaldson — now the trendy “Ho-Do” — became one of downtown’s hottest destinations.
Former software executive Doug Burgum — yes, that Doug Burgum — developed a new 20-story office tower anchored by Microsoft and agricultural equipment company RDO, creating a centerpiece for a restored and vibrant downtown.
A few weeks ago, I had a conversation with a friend about downtown redevelopment. How do we bring downtown Duluth back to life?
We discussed ideas and shared a vision for what downtown Duluth could become. We talked about the Fargo formula. Why wouldn’t it work here? It can.
We could help bring major community stakeholders and economic drivers — such as UMD and the College of St. Scholastica — downtown. With them would come students, faculty and staff, along with parents, friends and visitors, fueling a historic rebirth of downtown Duluth. Both campuses have largely built out their master plans and are constrained by their current footprints. Downtown offers room to grow.
It is time to locate a new, iconic central public library in the heart of downtown.
Recent successes such as Force on Fifth, Blacklist and Intrepid show what is possible. But more can be done. Much more. The city needs a catalyst.
Add 200 mph high-speed rail from the Twin Cities? Replace Interstate 35 with a parkway?
Why not?
