A Duluth entrepreneur held a news conference at the former St. Louis County Jail on Sunday to announce his business is interested in purchasing the jail.
Jay Cole of Home Seas LLC declined to say what he will offer for the building, but said he has a group of investors who are interested. He said he will propose a purchase agreement-marketing plan to the St. Louis County Board.
Cole said the building would host entrepreneurs who would work in the fields of solar heat, real estate, television and films, all with an international focus. Cole said he works in freelance television production.
"Everybody who has looked at it in the past has a very boxed-in look at it,'' Cole said. "We're very much out of the box. Solutions have to be found for a building like this.''
Cole said his goal is to raise $900,000 in private investment funds in the next year and to create 90 livable wage incomes in the next three years.
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He wouldn't answer any questions regarding how much money he has, who the other investors are, and he didn't know when he would make a formal proposal.
Cole ran for Minnesota House District 7B representative in last Novem-ber's general election in the race won by Roger Reinert.
Last week, the St. Louis County Board voted to sell the jail to the city of Duluth for $1. The board also approved giving the city $107,678 -- the amount the county was planning to spend to demolish the building until the city stopped the process in a 6-3 vote on April 3.
County officials said they have shown the building to 60 prospective buyers without receiving an offer. Commissioners said eight studies have been conducted on its possible uses and it is clear that it's not economically feasible to rehabilitate the building.
