Zoning change clears way for St. Luke’s expansion at Mount Royal clinic

• Mount Royal Medical Clinic

St. Luke’s is looking to expand the Mount Royal Medical Clinic to twice its size. The addition would be into a wooded area west of the building (left) that currently shields it from passersby on Woodland Avenue. (Steve Kuchera / skuchera@duluthnews.com)

Talk about it

The way is now clear for St. Luke’s to expand its Mount Royal Medical Clinic.

The Duluth City Council approved a zoning change Monday that should allow the clinic to double in size, to about 16,000 square feet.

The clinic at 1400 Woodland Ave. had been zoned R-2 urban residential. Under that zoning, the clinic would have needed a special use permit to exceed 10,000 square feet in size. With the new mixed use-neighborhood zoning approved Monday, however, St. Luke’s could build up to a 20,000-square-foot clinic without any special permit.

The Duluth Planning Commission had voted 8-0 to recommend the rezoning.

Application materials filed by St. Luke’s say the expansion would allow it to hire more doctors and offer more services at the clinic.

The proposed redevelopment of the nearby Woodland Middle School property is expected to help create new business opportunities, according to documents St. Luke’s filed with the city.

Tags: st lukes, city of duluth, news, business, health, woodland, construction, updates