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Years in the making, the Ely Regional Trailhead Facility Project is nearing completion.
A new building is up and work on the parking lot and landscaping begins soon, according to Harold Langowski, clerk-treasurer and operations director for the city of Ely.
“We just had the preconstruction meeting for finishing out the parking lot and landscaping,” said Langowski. “That will start next week, with completion being in mid-June. Then we’ll be scheduling a ribbon cutting for that.”
Once the trailhead facility opens, it will mark the completion of a $4.5 million endeavor, one that has been prioritized by the city.
The new building has been eyed as both a rest stop and information area, and a hub for accessing local trails.
“The vision for it is to be the first stop when visitors come to Ely, and serve both as a trailhead facility and for visitor information,” said Langowski.
The area is a natural destination for trail users, given proximity to the Mesabi Trail, Prospectors Loop ATV Trail, North Country Trail and snowmobile trails, with Ely recently being designated a trail community.
The facility will have restrooms and information about the Ely area and attractions for visitors to access.
There’s also office space at the facility, which could be used by local trail clubs.
Some have envisioned a staffed facility, although those details have yet to come to fruition and for now the building will not be staffed.
“There’s the possibility of it being somewhat of a visitor center,” said Langowski. “I think over time that may happen.”
Discussions to utilize U.S. Forest Service interns to staff the facility have failed to take hold, with Langowski adding that “current federal politics kind of kiboshed that.”
‘It’s still kind of open ended,” said Langowski. “We still would like to see some sort of staffed visitor center, at least in the summer months.”
Touted as an economic development project, one of the aims of the trailhead, is to get people into the community and to various shops and businesses.
The trailhead and west end project has been identified as the top economic development priority by the city of Ely, combining several components, ranging from economic development and recreation, to perhaps new housing at some point in the future.
Several years ago, the city first acquired $1.3 million in state bonding funds for the project, and a second infusion from the state provided another $1.5 million.
The project was stymied, however by cost overruns attributed in part to the Covid-19 pandemic, but the city later acquired a federal grant of $1.5 million to fill the gap.
“The building itself and the parking lot and surrounding area is about $3.2 million, but that does not include the infrastructure already installed which brings total cost to right around $4.5 million,” said Langowski.
It’s part of an ongoing effort to make Ely a hub for trail users and in turn boost visitor traffic.
A third phase of the project would require about $2.5 million in additional funding and would clear the way for future development including possible workforce housing, expansion at the Ely hospital campus and redevelopment of the old city garage.
