New Duluth high-rise adds housing, hotel, retail downtown

The Lakeview at 333 E. Superior is now open and leasing on downtown Duluth’s 300 block of East Superior Street, adding 210 apartments, about 18,000 square feet of retail and commercial space, and two floors of guesthouse suites next to Essentia Health’s St. Mary’s Medical Center. The roughly $100 million project is a 15-story mixed-use building and, by its architect’s description, will become Duluth’s tallest building.

The location puts the tower in the center of the city’s push to repopulate downtown. The building sits in the heart of the growing medical district, two blocks from Lake Superior, with direct skyway access into St. Mary’s and downtown Duluth, plus Lakewalk access. The developer has said the project is meant in part for people working on nearby medical campuses, a sign that the tower is targeting higher-income renters who want proximity to work, health care and the waterfront.

Its amenity package points to the same audience. Inside the building, Foundry Wellness includes a gym, saunas, cold plunges and a fuel bar, and the project also includes on-site retail and dining space, an outdoor courtyard, common lounge and party rooms, pet amenities and a bike service area. The mix of apartments, short-term guest suites and wellness space suggests the building is designed to function as a place to live, host visitors and spend money without leaving the block.

The Lakeview reached a major construction milestone on June 25, 2025, when developers held a topping-out celebration marking structural completion. Ground broke on April 12, 2024. A later project timeline said the first residents were expected in mid-October, and the opening now puts those units into a downtown market still trying to recover its pre-pandemic activity.

City leaders have tied that recovery to housing. MPR News reported in March 2025 that Lakeview 333 and the Ordean Building apartment conversion were expected to add about 600 downtown residents, putting the city partway toward Mayor Roger Reinert’s goal of 1,500 downtown residents. Before COVID, about 18,000 workers came downtown each day, and officials have said as many as half had not returned a couple of years later.

That is why a tower like The Lakeview matters beyond its own footprint. More residents can help support restaurants, coffee shops, service businesses and events along Superior Street and near Canal Park, while the guesthouse suites add visitor capacity close to the lakefront. In a downtown still balancing new investment, affordability concerns and office vacancies, the building is a clear bet that Duluth’s core can still grow by adding places to live, stay and gather in the same address.