Like its sister city of Duluth, Superior offers breathtaking views of Lake Superior and a unique mix of industry and tourism, where catching the sight of a giant ore boat is a highlight for visitors. But when it comes to hosting large gatherings, the Wisconsin port can’t compete with its Minnesota twin because there’s no venue to accommodate them.
“Large meetings and conventions would love to come up here, but we don’t have a facility and we don’t have the rooms,” said Jim Caesar, executive director of the Development Association of Superior and Douglas County. “State conventions like [with] the Wisconsin Economic Development Corporation are not going to go over to the convention center in Duluth.”
Caesar and other local boosters want to change that and have proposed a convention center for the Superior waterfront, rivaling the Duluth Entertainment Convention Center across the bay. Caesar spoke with WPR’s Robin Washington for “Morning Edition” while presenting plans for the convention center to state lawmakers in Madison during Superior Days last month.
Stay informed on the latest news
Sign up for WPR’s email newsletter.
This conversation has been edited for clarity and brevity.
Robin Washington: What can you tell us about the plans and photos you’re exhibiting?
Jim Caesar: We identified property that’s the former site of Barko Hydraulics. They’ve moved to the Upper Peninsula of Michigan. It gives us an opportunity to develop the property and put a convention center right on the waterfront. It’ll be bookended by grain elevators.
We’re looking at a facility that could be up to 200,000 square feet and eventually would have up to three hotels. We’d also have a hotel; housing, including condominiums; a marina; and a huge walking path around the whole facility. We’d also like to put a big Ferris wheel there and run a gondola over to the Lincoln Park area in Duluth.
RW: That would run over the water, above St. Louis Bay.
JC: Exactly. It would be exciting, but it’ll also be another way to move people back and forth between the two cities.
RW: One of the pictures shows a slip that juts out into the water with two ore boats docked there.
JC: We want to keep the ambiance of a working waterfront. People love to come and see these big ore boats, and they would be docked right there.
RW: The Ferris wheel makes me think of Navy Pier in Chicago, where I’m from. Everybody knows about it today but it was a totally desolate spot when I was growing up. How much of a pipe dream is this?
JC: It’s now become more than a pipe dream. We’ve done the feasibility study that said we need a convention center. Whether it’ll end up being 200,000 square feet or not remains to be seen. But I think we’ll get it done. We’ve been focusing on developers that know how to do this and put the financial stakes together to make it a reality. We had a group of advisers out of Sheboygan come up and another out of southern California.
The reality is it’s a 20- to 30-year project. But the linchpin of the whole thing is the Barko property that looks like it’s going to become available. Once we’re able to lock that in, we can start moving more rapidly to make it a reality.
If you have an idea about something in northern Wisconsin you think we should talk about on “Morning Edition,” send it to us at northern@wpr.org.
