Lake Superior College relocates downtown Duluth campus, expands main campus

A lot of renovation on the main campus of Lake Superior College is happening right now, and soon, that will be its only campus location. The students who attend and those who will be enrolling in the college will be all together next year.

“We’re glad to bring some students back to be part of the group, but also when they’re on a separate location, they do bond together closer as classmates, and those are the students that they see more frequently. So, it is a mixed bag of moving back to the main campus,” said David Kline, LSC’s Vice President of Advancement and External Relations.

LSC is in construction with an 8,310 square-foot addition to its “T-building.” The downtown Duluth campus will be officially closed around the first week of July 2024.

The college has rented the space for several decades from the Human Development Center, which owns the building. Machine tools, welding, and other similar programs have been running out of that downtown location. Kline shared how the “T building” on the main campus will house these programs instead.

“The program has been growing over the years, and we needed more space years ago. We’re always reconfiguring spaces based on the needs of our students and the programs at the time. So, it made sense to move them off-site, but we’re really glad to have them back on site now.”

The “T building” is already home to automotive, electric, and other programs like it and will use 8.3 million dollars in state bonding to cover the cost. With all the construction happening, the college is making sure to keep everyone in the loop.

“We want to make sure we’re communicating with employees here and also the students to understand what impact the construction’s going to have on parking, on entrances, and the noise and the smells. Construction is disruptive, but we also know that short-term pain brings long-term gain. We are glad to have the opportunity to expand and how these programs can give them a place to thrive over the next several decades,” Kline mentioned.

The newly renovated building is scheduled to be open for classes in the fall of 2024.