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[DULUTH, MN] At Downtown Duluth’s annual dinner last night, Mayor Roger Reinert outlined the City of Duluth’s commitment to investing in the revitalization of downtown.

“Downtowns matter. They are the front door, economic engine, and the shared living room of a community. When downtown is strong, the entire city benefits. And when it struggles, the entire community feels it,” he said. “Residents, visitors, employees, and business owners alike want our downtown to feel clean, safe, active, and welcoming. The work we must do in downtown is not unique to Duluth. It is the work downtowns are facing all across America. And there are no magic wands. It’s about doing the fundamentals well. Block by block, building by building, storefront by storefront.”

In his address to over 600 in attendance, he outlined the progress the City of Duluth has made on visible downtown challenges, including the razing of the blighted Pastoret Terrace building, the deconstruction of the long-vacant Shopper’s Auto Ramp, the establishment of public safety ordinances designed to address problematic behaviors in the downtown business district, the addition of new housing units, the funding of a Blight Mitigation Specialist position, and more.

Mayor Reinert also outlined plans to continue progress downtown:

• The City is proactively working to remove barriers to encouraging new investment in the downtown district, including the advancement of zoning changes to make development easier and more flexible to encourage the re-use of existing downtown buildings to include housing and commercial business.
• The City is currently working to complete an Alternative Urban Areawide Review (AUAR) to clear the way for future development.
• The City is working with the Duluth Economic Development Authority to bring more housing downtown, with more housing and retail/commercial, to reactivate foot traffic and activity downtown while helping meet the 9000-unit housing demand outlined in the recent Maxfield Housing Study.
• The 1200 Fund and DEDA are bringing more financial tools, like its Storefront Loan and Historic Loan, online to support investment in existing buildings.  
• The City of Duluth’s study of its 70-year-old skywalk system is wrapping up, and the results will be presented to City Council on February 12, 2026 at 6:00 pm.

Mayor Reinert closed his remarks by putting a call-to-action to the audience: Downtown Duluth revitalization is one of the City’s five strategic goals. Significant progress has been made, but the City cannot do this work alone; it needs its downtown business district to join in the work.

“We need each and every one of you to be active stakeholders. Be strategic. Start small. Start with your own block,” said Reinert. “Ask yourselves: What can I do tomorrow that would make an impact? Then do it. It doesn’t have to be perfect and it doesn’t have to be grand and it doesn’t have to be expensive. What can I fix? What can I clean? What can I make more visible? What can I make more active? Downtown vitality is built incrementally, and it is built together.”

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