Duluth Council OKs Demolition Plans

The Duluth City Council officially and unanimously approved demolishing four city-owned structures in the Old City Hall Block and other changes at its April 9 meeting. The demolition is expected to occur within 60 to 90 days.

Consensus had been reached on the plans at a March 20 joint meeting with the Duluth Downtown Development Authority, and funding sources had been identified at the council’s March 26 work session.

The structures to be razed include the building occupied by Boudreaux’s Cajun Seafood Market and the Boiler Room, a warehouse used by New Dawn Theater Company to store props, and the rear covered alleyway connecting the theater to the warehouse. The Boiler Room would relocate to the large building recently vacated by the Duluth Art Gallery and Wallace Reid Portraiture. That building, a former warehouse, would be stabilized and its rear façade replaced.

The Boudreaux’s café that had been operating in conjunction with the seafood market recently relocated to Duluth Station shopping center as Café Acadiana. The market remained.

In hopes of attracting future restaurants, the council added installation of a grease trap while a sewer line is being replaced behind Best of Brews, fyi Duluth design studio, Accessorize Again and New Dawn Theater Company.

The Old City Hall Block is bounded by Main Street, West Lawrenceville Street, Hill Street, and Abbotts Bridge Road (Ga. Hwy. 120).

The Boudreaux’s/Boiler Room building had been scheduled to be torn down already to accommodate future Ga. Hwy. 120 realignment. Removal of the building would provide additional parking. The city’s plans include joining the front and rear parking lots, landscaping and paving. Removal of the covered alleyway would allow a walkway to be constructed connecting the expanded parking lot to West Lawrenceville Street.

Councilman Billy Jones made the motion to approve the plans. His motion was seconded by Councilman Jim Dugan. All five council members voted for it.

“This is a good step in the right direction to improve an area that’s been hanging on by a thread,” said Dugan. “There are safety issues involved in a lot of those buildings.”

“The grease trap will increase the economic value of the block and attract future restaurants,” he also said.

The estimated cost of the demolition, repairs, and improvements is $148,500. Here’s the cost breakdown:

• Demolition - $60,000
• New sewer line - $20,000
• Grease trap - $30,000
• Warehouse repairs, new façade - $8,500
• Parking lot/walkway - $30,000

Service Delivery Strategy (SDS) settlement, 2009 SPLOST, and Ga. Hwy. 120 SPLOST funds would be utilized. The new sewer line would be paid for with unallocated sanitary sewer funds.