DULUTH, Minnesota — An article from The Wall Street Journal over the weekend asks, "Why did a billionaire snap up homes on a sandbar in Duluth?"
It's a question residents of the Park Point neighborhood have been asking for months with no answers. Now, the person behind it says it was to "spruce up and help modernize the neighborhood for everyone." But after many articles, questions from residents and the Duluth mayor on her plans, Kathy Cargill tells the WSJ, "The good plans that I have down there for beautifying, updating and fixing up Park Point park or putting up that sports court, forget it. There's another community out there with more welcoming people than that small-minded community."
Kathy Cargill is the wife of James R. Cargill II, one of the heirs to the Minnesota-based food company, Cargill. Kathy Cargill's North Shore LS LLC has been buying and often then demolishing homes on Park Point — the longest freshwater sandbar in the world.
It's led to a lot of questions.
The WSJ article said, "It got worse after a local reporter got in touch with Cargill in December."
That local reporter is Jimmy Lovrien of the Duluth News Tribune, who broke the story in December. Lovrien said they first heard rumblings of what was happening last summer. When Lovrien called Cargill, asking her plans for the properties, he said, "She really did not want to talk about that. She insisted of her own privacy and protection. She wasn't going to share that. Then she threatened to sue the paper if anything was printed."
According to Lovrien, Cargill currently owns 22 parcels on Park Point. Of the 13 homes, nine have been demolished and three have been permitted for demolition. One home is undergoing significant renovations as Cargill's family vacation home.
In the DNT article, Cargill is quoted saying about the homes she bought, "The homes that we bought were pieces of crap... I couldn't imagine living in any of them."
Cargill addressed her comments to the WSJ, saying many of the homes were too run down to be fixed up.
"That quote kind of, I think, maybe set the tone for everything else that has happened the last three months," Lovrien said.
Duluth Mayor Roger Reinert sent Cargill a letter, hoping they could discuss Cargill's plans for Park Point. Meanwhile, he assured residents the beach would remain public.
KARE 11 reached out to the mayor's office on Monday. We were told Reinert would not have further comment on the matter and that he was focused on the snow storm in Duluth.
However, two weeks ago, Reinert told KARE 11's Jana Shortal, "My intent in trying to engage her or her team is not adversarial. It's not aggressive in nature. It's an open hand... as a leader of the community to indicate what some of the community's now concerns are and also extend some opportunities to partner with us on some things."
Reinert said the initial curiosity had led to nervousness by some residents. He said it was a combination of a lack of communication on plans, a tight housing market, and Cargill buying the homes above market value.
"If you went back to the 1980s, you couldn't get a loan. It was a neighborhood that was not considered desirable. So many are longtime Park Point residents... have real concerns about being taxed out of their homes given the evaluation increases that we've seen over the last handful of years and that will certainly come following these purchases," Reinert said.
Cargill told the WSJ she had planned to build homes for some of her relatives, make improvements to the city park, add a coffee shop and build a complex for pickleball, basketball and street hockey.
But now? She says forget it.
"There's another community out there with more welcoming people than that small-minded community," Cargill told the paper.
But it doesn't answer the question of what will happen now.
Cargill said she didn't think it was anybody's business what she did with the properties and that she plans on continuing to enjoy her family's vacation home.
Lovrien wonders if Cargill is done buying properties on Park Point.
"There are nine homes demolished, three are about to be demolished or permitted to be demolished," Lovrien said. "She had said that people were approaching her... trying to get her to buy their properties. We'll see if that keeps happening."
About the mayor, Cargill told the WSJ, "I think an expression that we all know—don't pee in your Cheerios—well, he kind of peed in his Cheerios right there, and definitely I'm not going to do anything to benefit that community."
The next day on X, Reinert posted a picture of his breakfast with the caption, "For the record... I'm more of pancakes guy. #IYKYK."
WATCH MORE ON KARE 11+
Download the free KARE 11+ app for Roku, Fire TV, Apple TV and other smart TV platforms to watch more from KARE 11 anytime! The KARE 11+ app includes live streams of all of KARE 11's newscasts. You'll also find on-demand replays of newscasts; the latest from KARE 11 Investigates, Breaking the News and the Land of 10,000 Stories; exclusive programs like Verify and HeartThreads; and Minnesota sports talk from our partners at Locked On Minnesota.
- Add KARE 11+ on Roku here or by searching for KARE 11 in the Roku Channel Store.
- Add KARE 11+ on Fire TV here or by searching for KARE 11 in the Amazon App Store.
- Learn more about the KARE 11+ app for Apple TV in the Apple App Store.
- Learn more about KARE 11+ here.
Watch more Breaking The News:
Watch all of the latest stories from Breaking The News in our YouTube playlist: