Blumberg 1831

Location: 1831 E 8th St, Duluth
Nominated by: City of Duluth

The Blumberg-1831 LLC Project is a visionary $4.5 million mixed use development on a four parcel site that melds policy with practicality and serves the campuses to the community. The City of Duluth identified this Chester Creek/East Hillside neighborhood as an area in need of diverse retail, housing, and alternative modes of transportation in its Higher Education District Small Area Plan. Blumberg-1831 LLC project developer, Carla Blumberg, took a vacant and blighted brownfield and created a seven unit upscale market rate apartment building with retail that is currently occupied by lease holders that have chosen to forgo quantity for quality living. Retail and health care services on the first and second level meet the needs of the residents and college campuses nearby. The site offers a community oriented garden space which dually feeds the restaurant across the street with fresh locally grown produce. The Blumberg-1831 LLC Project was a risky endeavor that has proven to be an exceptional model of urban redevelopment that promotes entrepreneurialism, builds a sense of community connectedness, and creates future stability for the Chester Creek/East Hillside and surrounding neighborhoods.

Duluth is a college town that hosts over 16,000 students each year. A growing student population and community tensions created the need for the City to review its future land use model under a public Higher Education District Small Area Plan process. The Plan produced key findings related to college student housing, retail and commercial needs, neighborhood revitalization, and community-student cohesiveness. The Blumberg-1831 project developer fully understood the City’s and community’s needs given their current investment across the street at the ever popular farm to table Chester Creek Café. Using a sustainable business model, they have attracted new residents and tourists into the area bringing diversity, added purchasing power, and created a community asset the local residents can be proud of.

All seven of the apartments have been leased to professionals such as professors, government employees, public safety officers, and others. A multi-level commercial sized greenhouse/garden shed and raised gardens occupy approximately ¼ of the site—contributing to a community-oriented project design that emphasizes green space, walkability, and sensible urban planning that meets with the overall look and feel of the neighborhood. The garden bounty feeds the Chester Creek Café with locally grown organic produce on a regular basis.

The location of this new development promotes walkability and alternative transportation with its location on a bus line and is easily navigable by bicycle. The new development is just minutes from Chester Bowl Park, another beautiful and accessible public amenity, and is about a 10 minute walk from the University campus. The neighborhood has the benefits of easy access to transit, public green spaces, local part time employment, and commercial/retail services meeting the needs of most local residents while drawing in the campus population, not to mention tourists.

Many would have avoided this site due to the cost factors and others would have brushed it off as simply an area dominated by college student housing. Ms. Blumberg’s vision and determination has improved the community footprint and created a niche commercial corridor that would have remained unrealized were it not for the developer’s willingness to take on the risk of redeveloping a blighted brownfield.

Project Financing:

Owner/Developer
Minnesota Department of Employment and Economic Development

Project Partners:

Carla Blumberg
City of Duluth Business Development Department and the Planning Division
Barr Engineering Co.
Legend Technical Services, Inc.
Donald Holm Construction Co.
Electric Systems
Jamar Company
Emily Little, Architect
Bill Scalzo, Architect
Minnesota Department of Employment and Economic Development
U.S. Environmental Protection Agency