Cloquet Working to Revitalize Downtown and Business Districts

Many Projects are in the Works

CLOQUET, Minn.- A healthy downtown can be the key to a strong community.  That’s why the city of Cloquet is working to revitalize its downtown and business districts.

“It’s exciting to allow local businesses who have been here for quite some time to expand their foot print and their operations and grow locally here in Cloquet,” says Holly Hansen, the Community Development Director of Cloquet.

From the uptick of housing projects, to businesses redeveloping former locations, exciting things have been happening in Cloquet recently.

Additions include two new restaurants. Avenue C that opened at the end of January, and North East Barbeque, slated to open this spring.

City officials hope bringing new businesses not only encourages people to keep coming to busy areas like this one but also encourages people to visit less frequented areas of town.

The historic West end Business District,  where Avenue C is located, is hidden from highway 33. The area has several vacant store fronts and doesn’t get as much traffic as other parts of town. But Ryan Kolak, the manager at avenue c, is hoping to change that.

“There’s a lot of people that come through this area on 33 going fishing for fishing opener and hunting, so we’re trying to get them to take a left off of 33 instead of going right, and get here to see some new stuff,” says Kolak.

Avenue C’s reputation is growing through word of mouth. But Kolak believes the more the business thrives, the more they can contribute to the West End Business District, and ultimately the city of Cloquet.

“I think the major benefit of it is keeping money in Cloquet, helping the schools, the community and other funds around here,” says Kolak.  “It’s not like we’re taking money and funneling it back to Duluth, we want to keep it here local.”