Woodland Middle School project begins to grow

The site of the current, soon to be former, Woodland Middle School picked up another sign of progress today. St. Luke's announced that they are hoping to expand their current 8,200 square foot space into a new larger 17,000 square foot space that would extend into the wooded area behind the current clinic, which is part of the Woodland Middle School site. This announcement comes as plans for a new large mix-use development at the former Woodland Middle School site continute to develop. What are the plans for that site? Mark Lambert, the developer behind Boulder Ridge and Summit Ridge Apartments, has new plans to create a site that is geared towards college students with a "Dinkytown" vibe to it. What's Dinkytown? Dinkytown is a neighborhood in Minneapolis that is located on the northern part of the University of Minnesota campus. The neighborhood is a collection of services (post office, banks, laundromats, etc), retail, and housing, that is all geared towards college students. The area also contains four large upscale apartment buildings which house almost 1400 students, with a fifth on the way. Duluth currently lacks an area in which the college students can call their own, and many see this as a reason for more crime and neighborhood disruptions. Lambert's idea is to bring this exact same time of neighborhood to the site of the Woodland Middle School, thus finally giving Duluth college students an area to congregate and reside. Lambert hopes to reuse parts of the middle school building, while also constructing new buildings. His plan is to, like the Dinkytown area, incorporate services desired by college students, along with retail and housing. Construction is set to begin this summer, with an opening projected in 2013 or 2014.

(Mural in Dinkytown, Minneapolis, MN)

(View of Dinkytown, Minneapolis, MN)

(1301 Apartments (feature a more transitional look) DInkytown, Minneapolis, MN)

(Sydney Hall (featuring a more modern look), Dinkytown, Minneapolis, MN)