TOWER— The Tower Economic Development Authority has approved a development agreement that calls for the creation of the largest single residential development in the city’s history. The agreement, between TEDA and Marjo RE LLC, was approved by the TEDA board at a special meeting last week. It includes the purchase of 5.02-acres of land along Marina Drive slated for development of quad homes. The property will also provide access to the adjacent 18-acre parcel now owned by Your Boat Club and Marjo RE principals Luke Kujawa and Michael Jellish.
The sale, set to close by May 31, would establish a combined 23-acre site that could eventually contain as many as 55 housing units, a combination of single-family homes, multi-unit homes, as well as rental units, mostly for short-term stays.
Marjo RE will pay $25,000 for the property, which TEDA purchased in 2020 from St. Louis County.
The plan appears to fit well with Your Boat Club’s business model, in which dues-paying members can visit any of the club’s marinas to use boats of their choice. The planned development is slated to take place directly adjacent to Your Boat Club’s marina on the East Two River, in Tower, which provides direct access to Lake Vermilion. The development will be connected to the marina via a walking trail among other ways.
“We’ve had tremendous interest already,” said Luke Kujawa in a phone interview this week. “Interest from people hearing about it has been extremely strong. A lot of realtors and private parties want to know what’s coming.”
Kujawa said they expect to order the first three model homes soon. Discussions are already underway about sewer and water extension to the site.
An architect’s concept drawing for the project is well developed and soil testing and engineering work at the site was underway this week. The first batch of housing units could arrive in the Duluth port as early as April, according to Orlyn Kringstad, who is currently on contract with Marjo RE as project manager. Initial units are being imported from the Norwegian home manufacturer Tinde-Hytter, which translates to “Peak-Cabins” in English. At the same time, the company is working with Kringstad and his Norwegian business partner Lars Hanstad to enter the U.S. market with a subsidiary manufacturing plant in Tower.
Kujawa said the units produced by Tinde are attracting plenty of attention. “They’re super nice, with both the construction and the quality. The Scandinavian engineering and construction is first rate. These are high quality units and they’re extremely energy efficient.”
The units range significantly in size and can be as small as 400 square-foot cabins to as much as 1,400 square-foot three-bedroom homes. The units are all highly energy efficient, reducing the long-term expense and greenhouse footprint of the units.
Hotel project  a later phase
While early plans for the Marjo RE property included construction of a hotel, that development is now most likely to be located just upstream at the city’s harbor, although TEDA has yet to obtain a firm commitment on the hotel project to date. For now, TEDA appears to be focused on facilitating the planned project on the Marjo RE property, which would represent the most significant increase in the city’s tax base in generations.