TOWER— The deep rumble of heavy equipment, back-up alarms, pouring cement, and the sound of hammers have been echoing throughout this town of 430 residents this summer, in what is easily the busiest construction season in the community in decades.
From Main Street to the city’s harbor, the activity can be seen and heard in almost any direction as projects, some of which have been in the works for years, even decades, have all come together in a frenzy of new investment unlike anything the city has seen since its earliest days.
“It’s pretty exciting to see all this stuff happening,” said Tower Mayor Dave Setterberg this week. “What I like most is that it isn’t just one group or one person that’s responsible. It’s really a community effort, both public and private, with a lot of people who care to see Tower succeed.”
Setterberg said people are noticing all the activity in town this summer. “I’m getting comments, and really positive ones,” he said.
The biggest projects are associated with the city’s harbor and riverfront, where two separate developers are implementing their different visions for housing that could well attract dozens of new residents and significantly boost the city’s tax base.
At the harbor, Eagle Ridge Estates, Inc., a Pine City-based developer, is in the process of erecting seven twin homes along with an apartment building with about 7,000 sq. ft. of ground floor commercial space. Soil mitigation work was completed early last month and the footings and foundations for two of the twin homes were slated to be completed this week as the Timberjay went to press. Company principal Cole Newman said he hopes to have the walls going up on the first two twin homes before the end of the month and to have foundation work on three more completed shortly thereafter. He plans to have at least five twin homes framed in before the snow flies so his crew can work on interior finishing over the winter.
Next year, expect the remaining two twin homes and the apartment/commercial building to be completed. Newman said he had hoped to be further along, but delays due to material availability have pushed the timeline back a bit. He said he has most of the remaining materials already on hand, so he expects construction to proceed quickly once the foundations and plumbing stubs are in place.
Across the highway, the 23-acre site associated with the Marjo Motel has again become a hub of activity after a year of delay as property owner Luke Kujawa finalized a buyout of his business Your Boat Club.
Kujawa will continue to own and operate the Standing Bear Marina, which will offer easy lake access for residents of the Norwegian-built Tinde cottages that Kujawa is building in partnership with Orlyn Kringstad and Lars Hansted. That site was a hive of activity this week as Veit USA, a city-hired contractor was working on the water and sewer extension that will serve the Marjo development as well as the harbor project across the highway. Much of the funding for that work is coming from Iron Range Resources and Rehabilitation, with additional funding from Minnesota Housing, the city of Tower, and the Tower Economic Development Authority.
The Marjo project remains a work in progress, with three units either framed in or fully finished, while materials for three additional units are now on site with construction expected to get underway starting next week. Their goal is to have six units completed by the end of the summer or early fall.
While the harbor and riverfront projects sport the biggest price tags, they are far from the only major construction currently underway in the city.
Cement was expected to be poured on Friday for one of the first new buildings erected on Main Street in decades. It will be located in the formerly vacant lot between Sulu’s and Pike River Products and will provide an opportunity for business partners Nina Wycoff and Katie Pirsig to operate their current hair and nail salon in a brand-new setting as well as provide space to potentially offer additional services.
The two partners are fortunate to have family members in various sectors of the construction business, so they’re relying on close family for much of the work. They hope to have the building completed and ready to go sometime this fall. For now, they’re operating out of their current salon location, just a block to the east on Main Street, where they are currently booked out for the summer.
Other Main Street businesses have undertaken major renovations this summer, none more significant than z’Up North Realty, which transformed the rundown former Tower News building into a new office that stands out on Main Street for all the right reasons. And next door, the new owners of Odegaard’s, have been engaged in a months-long renovation of the roof and interior of the building. That’s still under construction so the final look of the project will remain a surprise for now.
Meanwhile, the city and the Tower-Soudan Historical Society have cooperated on two major projects, including the near completion of the renovation of the historic Old Fire Hall, which is likely to serve as the new home of Tower city offices, a move that’s expected before the end of the year. It’s a back-to-the-future move for the city, whose original offices were located in the old fire hall, which served as the early city hall as well as the city jail. And down at the historic train depot, the city is undertaking a renovation of the large parking lot, which serves both the train depot and the civic center. Deteriorating storm sewers under the lot had caused plenty of heaving over the years and had allowed for some significant rot and other water damage to the depot’s foundation. The new work includes replacing storm sewers and subsequent repaving the lot.
At the same time, TEDA has just finished up installation of a 39 KW solar array on the roof of the Vermilion Country School, with a combination of state and federal funding.
Much of the public infrastructure is being made possible by a major investment in Tower’s future by the IRRR, which is currently funding the utilities for the harbor and riverfront projects, the depot parking lot and storm sewer, as well as the old fire hall improvements.
While much of the funding is coming from outside sources, managing the accompanying paperwork for multiple projects has become a major undertaking for Tower’s new clerk-treasurer, Tammy Mortaloni.
Setterberg said Mortaloni’s been keeping the projects moving forward and is working closely with the IRRR to help keep monies flowing as big bills come due. A cash crunch about eight years ago put the city in dire straits financially, but it’s financial picture has improved since then even as the pace of new projects has quickened.
The payoff of all that work is being seen this summer as the city is experiencing its first real building boom since its founding in the late 1890s. “It’s like everything came together this summer,” said Setterberg. “I’ll be curious to see if it continues.”