| Oneida, Buehler keep Duluth Depot management Duluth's historic downtown Depot train museum, arts and history center will keep its current management team after all. "It's going to be a great summer for the Depot, and I think a great future,'' a bolstered Buehler said after the vote. The board rejected a proposal from the AtWater Group, another local property management company. , run the facility. "This group has eight years of taking something form absolute bankruptcy … to where it is today,'' said Commissioner Peg Sweeney of Proctor, saying management of the Depot is complicated because of the mix of tenants. The county early this year asked for new proposals to manage the Depot. County administrators and Oneida will now hammer out details of the contract expected to last about five years. The Depot is one of Duluth's most popular visitor attractions and home to some of the city's most active arts and history organizations. Commissioner Frank Jewell of Duluth, the lone dissenting vote, said the board should heed the advice of individuals who said the Depot could be more than it is. ". The board of the Depot Foundation also backed AtWater's new vision for the building, while several tenant organizations in the building backed Oneida and Buehler. "The Depot was one of the pieces we felt could be part of the renaissance of western downtown,'' said Brian Forcier, AtWater president. It's an interesting group of tenants occupying the same space. Commissioners rejected their staff's advice and stuck with Oneida and Buehler, with all seven commissioners praising the current manager's efforts to keep the building open and vibrant after it nearly closed, unable to pay its bills, in 2005. Commissioners went against the recommendation of their staff and an advisory committee, who had picked the AtWater plan. To keep them together in harmony is absolutely amazing. |
Wednesday, 9 May 2012
Oneida, Buehler keep Duluth Depot management
