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Plans for CC hotel take shape Developer assembles financing; IRRRB funds sought for demo
A multiyear effort to repurpose Ely’s Community Center building is advancing diligently.
Matt Stupnik, the Dellwood developer with Ely ties who is planning to turn the near century-old landmark into a 22-unit boutique hotel, briefed Ely Rotary Club members about his plans earlier this week.
The visit coincided with advances in funding the $3.5 million project, and a joint effort with the city of Ely for $175,000 in commercial redevelopment monies.
“This part right here from getting it into budget to appraisal to finish line is extremely difficult,” said Stupnik.
Harold Lanogwski, the city’s clerk-treasurer and operations director, told council members Tuesday that “a lot of pieces are coming together,” to move the project forward Stupnik bought the Community Center, which has been vacant for about a decade, for $2 and inked a deal with the city to renovate and remodel the facility and turn it into a hotel.
The agreement requires Stupnik to meet various milestones as he moves forward, and approval of the IRRRB funds will trigger aspects of the project that require demolition, pulling apart of the heating and ventilation system in the facility, and removing asbestos and other hazardous materials.
Stupnik is providing his own capital and has lined up private financing for part of the project.
“It’s a puzzle of puzzles,” Stupnik said of the financing, which is also helped by tax credits given for the restoration of historic buildings.
“Grants are huge and that’s what makes this go, and tax credits,” said Stupnik.
Stupnik, who has family roots in Ely and spent time here in the summers while he was growing up, owns a Twin Cities electrical contracting and solar energy firm with roughly 90 employees.
He told Rotary members solar energy wasn’t an option for the Community Center project because of cost.
“The budget is that tight,” he said.
Earlier plans called for 18 units but he increased it to 22 after discussions with Michael Stanton, a noted West Coast architect who spends part of his year in Ely.
Stupnik’s financing scenarios included options for both 18 and 22 units and he went with the higher number, and the hotel will also include performance space for musical acts.
Stupnik said his own anecdotal experience and an independent appraisal revealed demand for more lodging options in town.
“I calculated my own occupancy and handed it over to an appraiser and we found the same occupancy,” said Stupnik.
Stupnik said he has experience remodeling three other commercial buildings, and that he’s working to assemble a staff for his business. He’s encouraged acquaintances in the Twin Cities to consider living and working in Ely.
In response to questioning from Rotary members Wednesday, Stupnik said that the gold leaf inside the Community Center would be restored. Plans call for roof access for a penthouse suite at the hotel.
Some of the initial work will include core drilling and exploration to see if some of the plumbing can be reused.
“Once those guys get in there and get stuff torn apart, we can peak behind the curtain a little,” said Stupnik.
In a related matter, the city is moving forward with plans to demolish the old Ford Garage, located at the corner of First Avenue East and Conan Street, for a parking lot that could be used by hotel patrons.
The garage building has been vacant for many years and is in private ownership, but the city got involved to help spur the hotel project and address the parking issue.
The city previously sold the Community Center, which is on the National Historic Register of Historic Places, to the K America Foundation, which announced plans for a Korean cultural center.
That agreement, struck in 2018, fell apart and the city regained ownership and put the building back on the market, with Stupnik stepping forward in 2022.
Decades ago, the Community Center served as an Ely hotspot, housing not only the library and offices but a kitchen, cafeteria and auditorium that were used for numerous community events, It has been vacant since 2014, when the city closed the building after moving the library to a new facility across the street from City Hall.
Efforts to repurpose the building have stalled and the building needs extensive renovations and repairs, estimated at $2.75 million in a 2014 study.
The city commissioned a reuse study that can be found on the city’s website, and ideas have run the gamut, from using the building for its original purposes to perhaps turning it into rental housing, a hotel or community garden.
