June 27, 2023 – The Lake County Board of Commissioners approved a resolution entering into a Letter of Intent to purchase the former John A. Johnson Elementary School within the City of Two Harbors. The school has been vacant since 2006, and during that time two different owners have been unsuccessful in securing a re-use for the old building.
The County will use some one-time federal Local Aid and Tribal Consistency Funds to secure the purchase of the school and intends to work with local and regional partners to demolish the school and redevelop the site with new housing.
Commissioner Hogenson stated, “This property has continued to deteriorate over the last 16 plus years and has become a blighted property within our community. This is the perfect opportunity to use some of the one-time federal dollars received by Lake County, to purchase the property, and move forward leveraging additional investment dollars to clean up the property and create some new housing this community needs. It has become clear over the years, the private sector has not been able to, not through lack of trying, re-use or demolish the school as part of a redevelopment plan. We look forward to working with the City of Two Harbors and other partners to turn this blighted property into new housing.”
