Star Tribune
Developer John Anderson breaks ground on $25 million Boathouse Bay development
SILVER BAY, MINN. — State and local officials, their backs to Lake Superior, pushed golden shovels into a fresh mound of dirt Wednesday morning — a ceremonial groundbreaking for a $25 million residential and recreational development, the largest in this North Shore city since 1954.
Boathouse Bay, the planned development in Bayview Park, is expected to include two dozen three-bedroom villas available for purchase in addition to 18 rental bungalows, all described as having a “rustic modern feel.” Twin Cities developer John Anderson has owned this land, which includes 500 feet of shoreline, since the early 2000s.
That was before city leaders began courting tourists to this area along Hwy. 61 between Two Harbors and Grand Marais.
“I don’t think Silver Bay is on anyone’s radar,” Anderson said of the city of almost 2,000, where Cleveland-Cliffs’ Northshore Mining is based. “I think it’s a fabulous little secret. People are so protective and I think they should be.”
Johnson said he expects to begin putting down the foundation for Boathouse Bay in April, and to complete the project in the next five years, per an agreement with the city. The purchase price for a home here: low $600,000, according to a sign advertising properties.
Silver Bay’s history as an official Minnesota city is relatively short. In the 1950s it was the site of inexpensive housing options crafted for Reserve Mining Company employees. It was known as the Beaver Bay housing project before it became Silver Bay. Unlike other stops along Hwy. 61, the heart of the city is inland. There are no smoked fish shops, boutiques or restaurants with a Lake Superior vista.
The most substantial building along the water is the mine’s processing plant.
Boathouse Bay is northeast of Black Beach, a spot of shoreline colored by taconite tailings that is open to the public. There is a nearby campground with 49 sites situated on nearly 15 acres near the shore. In recent years, North Shore Adventure Park, with its ropes course and ziplines, has popped up nearby in addition to a mini golf course.
Iron Range Resources and Rehabilitation [IRRR] Board supplied more than $1 million in infrastructure grants for the development project, citing the shortage of housing in this part of the state — and the chance to draw tourism, according to commissioner Ida Rukavina. This will help make the area more competitive and economically viable as a place to live, work, play and invest in, she said from the future construction site.
“The regional housing shortage is a critical economic issue,” Rukavina said. “Supply and choice of inventory are currently low, demand is high.”
Sen. Grant Hauschild, DFL-Hermantown, said he also hears a lot about housing. People want to live on the North Shore, near the Boundary Waters Canoe Area Wilderness and the Superior National Forest.
“But they don’t do it because we don’t have the housing,” he said. “We don’t have the childcare, we don’t have the core services that we need to ensure that our communities continue to grow and are vibrant.”
Supporting this project, he said, was a no-brainer.
Hauschild described the last legislative session as an exciting and impactful one for this part of the state. The session started with extending unemployment benefits for laid off workers at Northshore Mining. He and Rep. Roger Skraba, R-Ely, were behind securing $4 million for the Gitchi-Gami State Trail. In October, he announced Northland Strong, an initiative that involves connecting with residents and determining the people’s priorities.
Before Anderson put his shovel to dirt, he considered his own changed perspective. He could never understand how people could sit in a lawn chair and just look at the lake. It was for movement: boats, waterskiing.
He’s closer to understanding now.
“God’s beauty and the majesty of the lake,” he said, standing on his plot of land.
Rain and potentially heavy snow are on tap Thursday around the Twin Cities, just before families set out for Halloween trick-or-treating.
Temperatures were expected to drop throughout the day, creating conditions for flurries. A winter weather advisory is in effect from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. covering the Twin Cities metro area and parts of south-central Minnesota. Steady rain drenched the Twin Cities on Thursday, making for a soggy morning commute.
“As colder air begins to move in this morning, the rain will transition to heavy snow from west to east with snowfall rates of an inch per hour at times into early afternoon,” the National Weather Service in Chanhassen said in a weather advisory.
The Twin Cities and surrounding areas could get between 2 and 4 inches of snow, according to the weather service. The winter weather advisory is expected to affect Anoka, Chisago, Hennepin, Ramsey, Scott, Washington and Le Sueur counties.
It’s unclear how much of the snow will actually stick, with warm surface temperatures likely leading to melting on contact in many areas.
“Exact totals will depend on snowfall rate, surface temperatures, and melting — which increases uncertainty with the snow forecast,” the weather service said in an early Thursday briefing.
“Thundersnow possible!” the weather service emphasized.
The good news for Halloween revelers is that the snow and rain are expected to wrap up in time for trick-or-treating, though temperatures will remain in the 30s with a sharp windchill.
An off-duty Washington County sheriff’s deputy caused a head-on crash while under the influence of alcohol and injured a couple in the other vehicle, officials said.
The crash occurred about 10:40 a.m. Sunday in Afton on Hwy. 95 at Scenic Lane, the Minnesota State Patrol said.
Campbell Johnston Blair, 58, of Hastings, was heading north in his Subaru Crosstrek, crossed into the opposite lane and collided with a southbound Ford Expedition, the patrol said.
Blair and the other vehicle’s occupants, 38-year-old Erik Robert Sward and 36-year-old Heather Lynn Sward, both of Lake Elmo, were taken to Regions Hospital with non-critical injuries, according to the patrol.
The patrol noted the alcohol use by Blair was involved in the crash.
Blair, who was driving a private vehicle at the time of the crash while off-duty, has been a deputy with the Sheriff’s Office since 2020 and is currently assigned to our Court Security Unit.
The Sheriff’s Office has been asked for reaction to the crash involving one of its deputies.
ST. CLOUD – On Tuesday, St. Cloud voters will be asked to make decisions on a new fire station and moving city elections to odd years, and — for those who live in Stearns County — how to fund a new county jail.
Here’s a look at the three referendum questions that are on St. Cloud-area ballots this year.
Ballot question: “Shall Stearns County be authorized to impose a sales tax & use tax of three-eighths of one percent to finance up to $325 million, plus associated bonding costs, for the construction of a justice center facility, consisting of law enforcement, judicial center and jail? The sales tax would be used solely to finance construction, upgrades and financing costs for the justice center and remain in effect for 30 years or until the project is paid for, whichever comes first. These services and facilities are mandated by the state of Minnesota to be provided by counties.”
Stearns County officials are planning to build a new $325 million justice center complex that includes a 270-bed jail, a judicial center with courtrooms, and a law enforcement center that houses the Sheriff’s Office. In the summer, Stearns County board members voted to move those facilities out of downtown and to a new location with more space. That site has yet to be determined.
The question before voters is how to fund that center.
County Administrator Mike Williams said a common misconception he’s heard at recent town halls is residents think voting “yes” gives permission to the county to build the facility, and if they vote “no,” the county won’t spend the money to build it.
“People [think they] are voting on the project — and they’re not. They’re voting on how we are going to fund it,” Williams said.
If voters approve the ballot question, the county will impose a sales tax to fund the project. If they vote it down, the county can instead pay for the project with property taxes.