Restored Duluth apartment building brings 20 units back online

A long-derelict brownstone on Duluth’s East Hillside has been returned to the rental market, restoring 20 apartments at 627 E. Fourth St. in a neighborhood that lived for years with a fire-damaged eyesore.

Heirloom Property Management showed off Brewery Creek Terrace at an open house on May 26, saying the building is fully restored and ready for new renters. The project brought back a mix of studios through two-bedroom apartments, adding housing in a part of Duluth where every unit matters.

Michael Schraepfer, president of Heirloom, said the rehabilitation cost came to about $4.2 million. Perfect Duluth Day put the total at $4.3 million and said the work took five years to complete. However the final tally is measured, the scale of the effort is clear: a structure many people would have written off was rescued instead of replaced.

The building’s return is also a test case for how Duluth handles its aging housing stock. Perfect Duluth Day said the city condemned the structure after a 2021 fire, and that the Duluth Preservation Alliance had already placed it on its Most Endangered Properties list. Brewery Creek Terrace was the only property from that 2021 list that was saved and improved, while Pastoret Terrace, the Esmond Building and First Baptist Church were lost.

The restoration also brought some recognition. The Duluth Preservation Alliance presented an award to Heirloom Property Management at its annual meeting on May 19, honoring the work that brought the building back.

The project had nearly gone in a different direction. In August 2022, WDIO reported that the brownstone had been close to demolition before a rescue plan came together involving One Roof Community Housing, Superior Credit Union, Heirloom Property Management and Essentia Health. That earlier plan called for 21 units priced roughly from $900 to $1,200, underscoring the effort to preserve older housing while keeping it within reach of renters who are priced out of new construction.

Schraepfer said he is drawn to old buildings because people do not come to a community only for new boxes. They come for the older built environment that gives a neighborhood its character. On East Hillside, that argument is now backed by a building that no longer sits abandoned, but once again houses renters and contributes to the tax base without requiring new infrastructure.