Great Lakes Revival in Action: Duluth’s Pier B Resort

The Pier B Resort has become Duluth’s largest private development on the Lake Superior waterfront since the 1960s, and is the result of cleaning up 2 acres of land impacted by legacy industrial contaminants.

The project was made possible through the persistence, ingenuity and dedication of a confident group of local investors, despite risk and unknown environmental obstacles. The resort has transformed the way Duluth looks at its future waterfront development and the connectivity of public and private spaces.

Duluth, Minnesota, is a port city of 86,000 residents on the far western shore of Lake Superior. Together with 29,000 residents in neighboring Superior, Wisconsin, it makes up the metropolitan area called the Twin Ports. The Anishinaabe or Ojibwe have inhabited the region for more than 500 years, including the Fond du Lac Band of Lake Superior Chippewa.

Like many locations across the Great Lakes basin, the story of the Twin Ports was built on resource extraction and industrial activities. These activities established a vibrant metropolitan area, but came at a cost of degraded water quality and loss of aquatic and terrestrial habitat. Conditions were so degraded that in the 1980s, the St. Louis River, including Duluth Harbour, was declared one of 43 Areas of Concern or ”pollution hotspots” in the Great Lakes.

A Remedial Action Plan was developed and over the last three decades, environmental restoration has occurred through a cooperative program involving federal, state and local partners. These projects have focused on addressing sources of industrial and municipal discharges to Area of Concern and restoring aquatic habitat.

During International Joint Commission community consultations earlier this year, Commissioners learned more about the role of the private sector in restoring Duluth Harbor and spurring local economic development. Several stories emphasized that projects that attract people and business back to the waterfront allow people to connect with the resource and contribute to its stewardship.

Pier B Resort, located on West Railroad Street on the Duluth Harbor waterfront, is an example of how the private sector advanced progress to restore an Area of Concern. The project location was a Brownfield redevelopment of an historic industrial pier previously used as a cement storage, packaging and distribution facility.

The site was purchased in the early 2000s. After many years of planning, construction of the resort commenced in 2015. Although there were numerous financing, permitting and technical hurdles to overcome, the co-owners took the view that they would work as a team with the relevant agencies to get the get the project over the finish line.

It really did take a village to the get the project built. A land acquisition agreement with the Duluth Economic Development Authority was helpful in getting other investors on board, and there were many other important partnerships along the way.

The project incorporates several creative approaches to environmental remediation that also have other beneficial uses. By working with open-minded agency staff, developers were able to rehabilitate the shoreline to satisfy needs for shoreline stability, cultural heritage objectives, and boat and public access.