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DULUTH — The Duluth Superior Symphony Orchestra is seeking to become the next major tenant at the St. Louis County Depot.
The three-member Depot Operations Committee of the St. Louis County Board of Commissioners on Monday voted unanimously to grant the Depot's administration permission to enter into lease negotiations with the DSSO and most of the venue's current tenants. The matter now moves to a committee of the Depot's board of directors Tuesday, followed by the full board on Aug. 9 if the request passes committee.
Depot director Mary Tennis and a selection committee reviewed responses to a request for proposals that all prospective Depot tenants — including current tenants — were required to submit. In a May op-ed published in the News Tribune, Tennis wrote that the process was initiated "to be certain we are serving as a community resource, engaging a diverse audience, and bringing vitality and sustainability to the building."
According to its proposal, the DSSO is seeking "to curate its own new performance series and open up the theatre as an affordable option to local performing arts ensembles." The proposal describes "15 to 20 performance events by DSSO musicians each year" as the sort of programming they might bring to the Family Theatre space, which has long been rented by the Duluth Playhouse.
In March, the Playhouse announced that it was leaving the Depot to consolidate programming at the NorShor Theatre and nearby Zeitgeist. The Arrowhead Chorale, which currently offices at the Depot, did not submit a proposal to continue as a tenant.
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The Depot's selection committee determined to move forward, pending approval, with lease negotiations with the venue's other current tenants: the Duluth Art Institute; the Depot Foundation; the Lake Superior Railroad Museum and North Shore Scenic Railroad; Minnesota Ballet; and the St. Louis County Historical Society.
At Monday's meeting, Tennis said that both the Lake Superior Railroad Museum and Minnesota Ballet proposed to rent the space currently known as the Underground Theatre. The museum hopes to install an elaborate model train exhibit, while Minnesota Ballet proposed to use the space for classes, workshops, and performances.
Minnesota Ballet's proposal "indicated the space will be used in a manner that would provide a significant benefit to underserved populations within our community," said Tennis at Monday's meeting. "They really addressed diversity, equity and inclusion in their proposal. The underground would provide them with a visible space within the Depot, which they currently do not have."
While Commissioner Paul McDonald, the committee chair, noted the model railroad "would be a valuable addition" to the Depot, the committee ultimately agreed with the selection committee's recommendation to move forward toward leasing the space to Minnesota Ballet.
"The Depot really has to undergo significant upgrades to its overall building systems, so we have no idea what areas of the building will be significantly impacted by that," Tennis told the News Tribune. "We just don't want to make any kind of agreement that includes a lengthy process or great cost to a tenant or something that's permanent" until those upgrades are completed.
If the Depot board approves the selection committee's recommendations, lease negotiations will include not only the details regarding what spaces, precisely, each tenant occupies: rent will be a question.
The Depot is seeking a minimum rent per square foot of $4.97. Not every tenant has said they can meet that threshold. Minnesota Ballet has proposed $4.50 per square foot, while the Duluth Art Institute proposed $1.50, Tennis told the commissioners.
Leaders of the Duluth Art Institute have expressed reservations about the RFP process from the beginning. In an op-ed published in the News Tribune in May, the DAI's Christina Woods and Robin Washington criticized the "surprise imposition of a request-for-proposal process, asking the organizations to bid on the spaces they’ve occupied for years."
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Presuming lease agreements are reached this fall, tenants will be bidding again next year: according to Tennis, leases would extend through the calendar year 2023. The Depot is hoping to offer longer-term leases once renovations are complete, she said.
According to the DSSO proposal, the orchestra hopes to ultimately land "a long-term lease for space at the Depot, preferably for the next 10 years."
