Duluth, Minnesota

The towers that set the tone of the core, and who holds them. A price is the price a document states, on the date it states — not an estimate of what the building is worth now.

The most valuable ground in the city, and what the public record says about it.

At this scale the significant owner is rarely a trust or a fund: it is one or two local holding companies, a family in its second or third generation, and often the land around the town rather than the buildings in it.

Public bodies own Duluth's biggest blocks of ground. The City of Duluth is by far the largest landholder: 4,158 parcels and 12,694 acres, about 30% of the 41,977 acres on the city's roll, much of it parks, the airport and the DECC. Next is tax-forfeited land: 3,750 parcels and 3,549 acres titled 'ST OF MN C278 L35', held by the State in trust for the taxing districts and managed by the county. Most of the rest of the public ground belongs to the State, the University of Minnesota, the school district, the Port Authority and the HRA. Among private owners, two freight railroads and the electric utility hold the most land. Figures are parcels in the owner's name on the county roll, tax district CITY OF DULUTH, tax year 2026. Acreage is the layer's ACREAGE field.

New-home building in this market: the volume, and the firms behind it. Ownership of a builder matters as much as its volume — a private-equity platform and a family firm behave differently.

Duluth builds very few new homes, and no national production builder holds lots in the city. The Census Building Permits Survey puts the city at 51 single-family homes ($13.7M of construction), 2 two-unit buildings (4 units) and 3 buildings of five or more units (164 units, $17.3M) in 2025, all 12 months reported (s8). Most new supply is apartments, and the big recent apartment buildings sit in single-purpose LLCs (e.g. ARRIS III DULUTH LLC at 330 E Palm St, $41.4M; Endi Plaza LLC at 2120 London Rd, $32.3M). The largest holder of residential lots is a retailer: Menard Inc holds 53 unimproved residential lots. The builder figures below are parcels in each company's own name on the county roll, which are lots and unsold homes, not closings. The biggest single non-government holder of houses is One Roof Community Housing, a community land trust whose homes stay permanently affordable.

The commercial side, counted separately from housing: who holds the office, retail and industrial floor area.

Duluth's largest private landlords are the shopping-centre REITs at the top of the hill, a handful of new apartment LLCs, and Canal Park's hotel owners. The only office tower of note, the Maurices building, sits in a single-asset LLC. No national single-family rental company shows up among the city's owners. The biggest rental holders are a supportive-housing landlord (CapGrow) and local LLCs, none holding more than about 30 homes. The utility, ALLETE, outranks every landlord in taxable value: $98.5M on the roll and $3.01M of tax. Counts are parcels in the owner's name on the county roll inside the city.

Claims this page would have made if a source could be opened. They are left out rather than guessed.

1. Open_Data MapServer, layer 7 'Parcels' (185,471 St. Louis County parcels; fields include OWNAME, TXNAME, Ownership, TAX_DIST_NAME, TPCLS1, LAND_EST, BUILDING, EstTotalValue, TaxableMarketValue, NET_TAX, DELINQUENT, LASTSALEDATE, ACREAGE; TAX_YR 2026, ASMT_YR 2025). Service summary: 'Data available for public consumption through the ArcGIS Online Open Data service.' Duluth slice (TAX_DIST_NAME = 'CITY OF DULUTH', 49,479 parcels) read in full 31 Oct 2026 — St. Louis County, MN - Enterprise GIS · openA
2. PublicLands MapServer: County Fee, State Tax Forfeit (County) Trust, State, Federal, Municipal, Tribal, HRA, School District, Port Authority and Special Tax District land layers; copyright 'Maintained by the St Louis County Auditors office, Enterprise GIS, and the City of Duluth'; parcel data 'edited in the Parcel Fabric and exported to Parcel Info feature class daily' — St. Louis County, MN - Auditor's Office, Enterprise GIS · openA
3. Real Estate Recording: 'Property in St. Louis County is classified as two types of title, Abstract or Torrens. Access to indexes, documents and certificates of title is available by paid subscription'; public terminals at the Recorder's office; copy fees — St. Louis County Recorder · openA
4. Parcel Tax Lookup v2.0.1.0 (search by address, parcel ID, lake, plat, section/township/range). Disclaimer: 'intended to be used for informal purposes only. It is not intended for use in abstract work, land surveys, title opinions, appraisals...' Data current as of Oct 29 2026 — St. Louis County Auditor · openA
5. Simon Property Group, Inc. / Simon Property Group, L.P. Form 10-K for 2025 (filed 25 Feb 2026): property table entry 60 'Miller Hill Mall MN Duluth Fee 100.0% Built 1973 99.4% 820,001'; Schedule III — Simon Property Group via SEC EDGAR · openA
6. Brixmor Property Group Inc. Form 10-K for 2025 (filed 9 Feb 2026), Schedule III: 'Burning Tree Plaza Duluth, MN' built 1987, acquired Jun-11, gross $25,016K — Brixmor Property Group via SEC EDGAR · openA
7. 'Grand, indeed! Essentia Health ushers in new era of patient care with grand opening of replacement St. Mary's' (19 July 2023). Site terms: content for 'personal, non-commercial use'; single facts quoted — Essentia Health · openA
8. Building Permits Survey, places, Midwest Region, annual 2025 (mw2025a.txt): Duluth city, 12 months reported; and county file co2025a.txt — U.S. Census Bureau · openA
9. Duluth Entertainment Convention Center Arena (infobox: address 350 Harbor Drive; owner and operator Duluth Entertainment Convention Center) — Wikipedia · openB
10. Duluth International Airport (infobox: owner City of Duluth, Minnesota; operator Duluth Airport Authority) — Wikipedia · openB