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.
Twin Cities, get ready to potentially spot an ex on the Minneapolis season of Love Is Blind, which was officially announced Wednesday night.
The anticipated reunion episode that closed out season 7, set in Washington, D.C., included the surprise announcement. The eighth season will launch on Valentine’s Day.
“This Valentine’s Day 2025 will mark the five-year anniversary of the premiere of Love Is Blind, and it is going to be the launch of season 8, which takes place in Minneapolis,” host Vanessa Lachey said in a moment also posted to social media.
Three of the incoming Minneapolis singles were introduced in the reunion episode. When asked about the challenges of the dating scene in Minneapolis, one contestant shared a sentiment many Minnesotans will be familiar with.
“It’s such a small community, it’s not like a major city but it’s also not a small town. So you kind of see the same people over and over, and it’s a small bar scene,” he said.
Star Tribune
Long Prairie, MN school board dismisses its superintendent, the latest controversy in this small town
LONG PRAIRIE, MINN. — The school district superintendent dressed up as the school mascot, Thor, on football nights. He read the graduation address in both English and Spanish. He even set up office hours in the cafeteria, granting easier approachability to students.
But now, two months into the school year, Daniel Ludvigson is gone. Or, rather, “on special assignment,” according to the terminology of the Long Prairie-Grey Eagle School Board, which voted 4-3 earlier this month to remove him as superintendent. The move came weeks after voting to not renew his contract, which expires at the end of the school year in June.
Four board members — two of whom voted to oust Ludvigson, including Board Chair Kelly Lemke — are up for re-election next week.
The dismissal is the latest blow in this central Minnesota community on the edge of the prairie. Over the last nine months, the town of 3,400 residents and seat of Todd County has lost its mayor, a city manager, two school board members, and now its superintendent.
Students walked out earlier this month in support of Ludvigson. Signs in support of Ludvigson can be seen across town on the lawns of apparent Democrats and Republicans alike. And last week, hundreds packed the American Legion off Hwy. 71 to eat beef sandwiches and sign support letters for Ludvigson, who only swung by to pick up his child for hockey practice.
In a time of great divide in America, this fight has nothing to do with politics.
“You’ve got Harris buttons and Trump hats side-by-side, arm-in-arm,” said Amanda Hinson, a former local newspaper reporter who is concerned the board is not being upfront about why they placed Ludvigson on special assignment. “We want transparency in our government.”
Lawn signs around Long Prairie, Minn., now include people weighing in on the dismissal of Superintendent Daniel Ludvigson by the school board. (Christopher Vondracek)
School board members say Ludvigson has repeatedly shown he is not ready for the prime time of a school district bigger than the one in central North Dakota he arrived from two years ago. They have twice disciplined Ludvigson, but did not state the reason for placing him on “special assignment,” beyond insinuating that staff are fearful to raise official complaints.
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.
