Tower harbor work back on track

TOWER— After a wetland permitting snafu put development work around the Tower harbor and riverfront on a slow track in August, work has resumed on housing and utility construction on both sides of Hwy. 169 and is now moving quickly.
Work on the water and sewer extension, which will serve housing projects on both sides of Hwy. 169, had been suspended since mid-August after issues arose with wetland permitting that was supposed to have been completed by mid-summer. The permits were finally issued in late September, which allowed the utility work to restart in earnest. So far, that work has been moving forward quickly, helped by drier conditions than expected as the work moved into a marshy area that was formed following the realignment of the junction of Hwys. 169 and 135.
The utility extension will serve two separate developments, including the development on property located between the Marjo Motel and the Standing Bear Marina. Three additional homes were expected to be fully enclosed by the end of this week, bringing the total number of units to six.
The development is being spearheaded by Orlyn Kringstad, with financial backing from Luke Kujawa, who owns the 23-acre site along with the adjacent marina property. The development is ultimately expected to include as many as 45 new homes, a hotel, and a restaurant and other services at a fully renovated marina. The Timberjay will have more on those plans as they are finalized.
Across Hwy. 169, at the harbor site itself, work has intensified as Eagle Ridge Estates, the firm developing the property under an agreement with the Tower Economic Development Authority, is now well underway on construction of the second twin home. Preparation of footings and foundations for three more twin homes is expected to be completed yet this year, according to Eagle Ridge principal Cole Newman. Despite the delays over wetland permitting, he’s still hoping to have five of the twin homes framed up yet this construction season. That’s likely to depend on weather conditions over the next few weeks.
Unbudgeted expenses
The utility work has come with some surprises, including the failure of the engineered plans to include the cost of electrical connections for associated lift stations. That’s resulted in change orders that have added more than $100,000 to the budget. The utility contractor, Veit, also encountered more water than expected during trenching on the Marjo property and has been pushing for a change order to address additional pumping costs. That change order has yet to be approved, however, since the amount of dewatering on the harbor side of the project has been considerably less than anticipated.
Meanwhile, initial efforts to bore under Hwy. 169 to extend the water and sewer to the Marjo development ran into difficulty as drillers encountered unusual materials, including logs, that made the drilling difficult. After the first day, the drill team pulled their drilling equipment and will try again after digging deeper in hopes of avoiding some of the problem materials.
Second round of funding
As construction is well underway, city officials are developing a funding request for the next phase of the harbor project, to include the final streets to serve the harbor area along with some additional soil mitigation to accommodate the final two of the harbor project’s seven twin homes as well as the larger apartment/commercial space building on the harbor’s southeast corner. City officials are hopeful that funding request will go to the IRRR board in December, with the work expected to get underway in the spring of 2027.