Hotel project planned for Park Point... Again.

Could the third time be the charm for a local developer hoping to construct a hotel on Duluth's Park Point?

Island Inn and Suites, LCC will be presenting plans to the city of Duluth at their September 5th meeting for a new hotel at 1000 Minnesota Avenue. This is the site where two other hotels have been proposed in the last five years, both of which were large scale hotels that would be have unique to Park Point.

SO WHAT'S THE ISSUE?

Height. The first time the owner of the site proposed a 9 story hotel and it was approved by the city as it went pretty much under the radar through the Planning Commission. However construction did not begin within the set time period that the permit was issued for and the project was cancelled.

When the plan went back to the Planning Commission for a second round this past March, this time with the name Park Pointe Inn at the Lakehead Basin, the hotel remained pretty much the same as before. What was needed for the project to move forward was a height variance so it could construct the nine stories as originally planned. The height variance was not granted due to due to neighborhood opposition.

THIS TIME AROUND

It's unclear what is exactly planned for the site this time around but it is most likely is not going to be the size of the plans that we have seen in the past. If it were, we honestly would be surprised.

What can be expected is something on a smaller scale, but don't expect anything too small. It's a coveted site on Park Point and the amount of money that will be required to develop it will in turn mean that something of a larger size would need to be built there in order to make it feasible.

We'll have more details on this exciting project soon.