Outside Minnesota, Discovery Land Co., a U.S.-based developer, operates private residential communities and resorts globally, with communities that include golf courses in Scottsdale, Ariz., and Montana. Membership is required to own properties.
City Councilor Lynn Nephew, who is also a real estate agent, said the Northland project would increase the city’s tax base and won’t require the city to pay for maintenance of a new road to access the new construction, since the road will be private. The club likely sought the zoning change so it could have a private road, but it wasn’t necessary to build most of what the club plans, she said.
“So I look at it like a win-win,” Nephew said.
The development plan includes preservation of several acres of the 40th Avenue Creek and 6 acres of green space.
The city continues to grapple with a housing shortage across all markets, according to a new study it commissioned. It also found the fastest growing demographic is seniors, highlighting the need for housing catering to older Duluthians, among other groups.
“I do think it will create some movement in the market,” Nephew said, with some members who split time between Minnesota and a warmer state in the winter potentially selling Duluth homes to live at Northland in the summer.
