Essentia Health made one of the largest private investments in Duluth’s history in 2018 when it committed to transforming the downtown medical campus into a state-of-the-art medical facility. Posing a unique challenge, the existing Essentia Health facility is surrounded by city infrastructure and roadways making expansion outward impossible. To solve this challenge, the facility is being built vertically into the hillside – adding 942,000 square feet on top of the already existing hospital structure.

The project is a new facility with renovation to the existing areas of the Essentia Health Duluth, Miller Dwan, and DC-1 Building to construct a new hospital, clinic, and outpatient surgery center to replace buildings on its downtown campus as well as renovate existing areas to accommodate both inpatient and outpatient services. The new facility has an approximate square footage of 899,000 square feet, containing 35,000 square feet of shelled space for future use.