superior HAPPENINGS
Superior builds on business energy By Maria Lockwood mlockwood@ superiortelegram.com
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t least a dozen businesses joined the Superior landscape over the last year. Each added a spark to the city’s dynamic. “It’s an exciting time. I feel like there’s just a different energy in the community,” said Taylor Pedersen, CEO of the Superior Douglas County Chamber of Commerce. “You’re turning a blind eye to it if you’re not seeing it, because you can feel it.” Whether business owners are contemplating a move to the Twin Ports or a move from one side of the bridge to the other,
Superior’s a contender. Both Belknap Street and Tower Avenue have been recently reconstructed; taxes on food and retail goods are lower than in Duluth. “You do have a lot of people looking at this side of the bridge,” said Lindsey Jacobson, executive director of the Superior Business Improvement District. She said the positive energy has been building since the launch of the Better City Superior initiative, a proposed exposition district which was supported by 75 percent of referendum voters in 2016. “Everything’s changing hands and it’s getting new, refreshed energy,” Jacobson said.
Businesses like KD’s Restaurant, 7 West Taphouse, Pottery Burn and Pak’s Green Corner made the move to Superior. New businesses like Twisted Pastries, Empire Coffee, Annie’s Attic and Greenfield Meats and More chose to make Superior home. The changes can be felt throughout the city: ► JR Jensen has a new building in Superior’s East End neighborhood; ► The downtown Empire Block has been restored; ► Fastenal is renovating the Erlanson Building; ► Subway turned a vacant gas station into a restaurant; ► Earth Rider, Thirsty Pagan and Bachand Realty
have invested in Superior’s north end; ► P&R Properties apartments have sprung up in Superior’s south end and downtown, with another underway near North Second Street. Businesses like Field & Connolly Insurance, Superior Family Dentistry and Shamrock Pizza have spruced up their buildings. Mainstays like Globe News and Northwest Outlet have weathered years of construction projects yet continue to serve Superior. “They’re on the corner of construction and construction,” Pedersen said. As more businesses open, refresh or relocate
in Superior and Douglas County, he encouraged them to reach out. “There are so many resources available to our business community,” Pedersen said. “All you have to do is say ‘Hi.’ I mean really, just reach out and say, ‘We’re open and this is what we do.’” One call can connect business owners to a network of help. “A lot of times, that Chamber serves as the air traffic controller for the community,” Pedersen said. “And we know how to connect people to resources or services they might be looking for.”
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Work continues on the new main entrance at WITC.
Jed Carlson / jcarlson@ superiortelegram.com
WITC’S NEW LOOK
Renovation brings major changes to Superior campus By Shelley Nelson snelson@superiortelegram.com
The castle-like towers that frame the atrium windows on the northwest side of Wisconsin Indianhead Technical College are taking on a new look as phase two of a renovation is underway. Concrete’s already been laid behind the mounds of mud being excavated to finish patio that will grace the facility that first opened in 1978. A bridge covers the span between the two towers. “What will happen in this phase is the atrium glass wall facing Catlin Avenue will become our new entrance,” said Stephanie Erdman, vice president of academic affairs and Superior campus administrator. “This new entrance will be off Catlin and it will bring students and visitors into our newly remodeled atrium. At this front entrance, the bookstore, student services, our cafeteria and our student life will all be there.” During the first phase of the project, preliminary construction was done in preparation for the new entrance. Additional projects included relocating the student life office, installing new plumbing throughout the building and renovating bathrooms on the second and third floors. Last year’s projects included remodeling and retooling technology and industry programs, and creating a
pharmacy lab complete with shelves, sinks, a fume hood and tools pharmacy technician students would use in a real-world working a pharmacy. “We’re really trying to provide that hands-on, real-life experience so that when students get out into the work world, there’s not a transition from the classroom to industry,” Erdman said. Outside of the classrooms, work is underway on the new entrance and the parking lot that will accommodate a new pattern of travel into the Superior campus. “The other exciting thing about this new front entrance is we’ll have an outdoor patio with new sidewalks, and the sidewalks will support an iron-like sculptural piece that we’re calling a colonnade (made by welding students). And this colonnade is replicating the bridge between the Twin Ports. In addition, all the other entrances will have kind of smaller versions of this colonnade.” All of the current entrances will remain, but the former main entrance will be designated as the accessible entrance to the building, Erdman said. A new parking lot on the north side of the building will run between Catlin Avenue and Mortorelli Drive, and the
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Students work in the heating, ventilation and air conditioning shop at WITC in Superior on Thursday, April 25.