As progress was made and construction moved forward on the Ely Regional Trailhead Facility Project, one question remained unanswered: Will the new building be staffed?
That may finally be answered, given ongoing talks between the Ely Chamber of Commerce and the city of Ely, with the goal of making the $4.5 million facility the Chamber’s new home.
Both Eva Sebesta, the Chamber’s executive director, and city clerk-treasurer Harold Langowski, voiced optimism this week that a deal will be struck.
“Well, right now, Eva has been down there with her board and they have toured the building,” said Langowski. “And a couple of our negotiating committee members were there, and they (the Chamber) are very interested in being a tenant. We’re just working through some of the details. I don’t see anything standing in the way and I would hope by August we’ll have it all finalized.”
Sebesta said the new building “is just spectacular” and makes for a natural home for the Chamber.
“It’s going to be the first thing folks see as they enter Ely,” said Sebesta. “It’s a natural spot for everybody to stretch their legs.”
Nearly a decade in the making, the trailhead project is coming to fruition with the completion of the new building, located on Ely’s west entrance and at a jumping off point to local trails.
City officials have long identified the new building as a potential visitor center as well, but questions remained over how it would be staffed and by whom.
The Chamber of Commerce has been housed at its current log cabin home, on the east end of town, since 1978.
That building is owned by the city and the Chamber is a lease tenant.
That lease runs out in June, and Sebesta said, “We were already in the process of looking at a new lease” when talks shifted to a possible move west.
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, enough for the Chamber’s current staff of Sebesta, event coordinator Kristin Switajewski and visitor center coordinator Laurie Boes.
While the new area eyed for the Chamber doesn’t have quite as large of a footprint as the east end headquarters, Sebesta said it will work for the organization.
“We have a lot of historical items and documents that we’ll have to look at and see how we can best preserve and store,” said Sebesta.
But of the building itself, she said, “All I can say at first is I was totally speechless.”
“Our hats off to Harold and the planning committee,” said Sebesta. “They have literally thought of every detail to make it a wonderful place. There are restroom facilities, a wellness room, a room where moms can take a little break with infants and small children, a gathering area with a fireplace. It’s just spectacular.”
About 7,000 to 8,000 visitors pass through the Chamber’s east end building each year and Sebesta said she expects that number to grow at a new facility. Should the Chamber move forward and take occupancy there, the organization may hire a summer intern to help deal with more traffic.
Construction on the building is nearing completion and plans call for a ribbon-cutting ceremony later this summer.
Sebesta said it’s possible that the Chamber could be staffing the building by “mid-to-late fall.”
“That’s kind of the timeline,” she said. “With the festivals coming up, it gets a little dicey. We’re just following the city’s lead with the timeline.”
The area is a natural destination for trail users, given proximity to the Mesabi Trail, Prospectors Loop ATV Trail, North Country Trail and Taconite snowmobile trail, with Ely recently being designated a trail community.
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.
Council member Angela Campbell said “it’s a perfect fit,” that the Chamber occupy the trailhead building, and Langowski noted that the area the Chamber now occupies could be marketed for new development.
“Things could come full circle after a while,” said Lanogwski. “When we look at it, JMW Development developed the east end where we have Zup’s and Subway now, and when they put that together, there was interest in that property if at some point the Chamber would relocate to the other end of town. With the development of the trailhead it was always my hope that’s how it would work out and that would be the visitor center.”
