Building remains in stairway limbo

After another round of seeking funding to fix the failing outdoor back stairs to his apartment building, Roger Bruhn said this week that he has come up empty again. It likely means that by June 1, upper-level residents at the Victory Apartments will need to find housing after the city of Cloquet deemed the stairs a hazard and the top two floors "uninhabitable" without a fix. The stairs serve as the only direct exit for the upper floors of the building at 17 Eighth Street, across from the Pedro's restaurant building.

Cloquet community development director Holly Hansen said Tuesday that despite "a myriad of loan resources," Bruhn is still not committed to fixing the stairs in the building that is part of city programs to provide low-income housing. He received notice in 2020 that the stairs needed to be repaired after some incidents were reported, including a tenant stepping through a failing tread.

Hansen said "two weeks from now will be difficult for many." Finding low-income housing has been difficult recently, with few vacancies before the deadline at the end of the month. Bruhn said he didn't know the status of his tenants and had "no answer" about the fate of his building. He lives in Oklahoma, and a few years ago was trying to sell the building.

After significant media coverage last month, Bruhn said he made efforts three times for a bank loan to fix the stairs, which he estimates will cost $80,000 to repair. He also looked into suggestions for nonprofit and government program help and came up empty, he said.

Fixing the stairs doesn't add enough equity to a building with an estimated value of $300,000, he said. There are nine units on the second and third floors of the building that will likely sit empty after the deadline. Bruhn said this week that a difficult economy is driving his lack of funding. He stated last month that the pandemic had also had an effect on his income from the 12-unit property, as some residents haven't paid rent while a moratorium on evictions remained.

"I don't know," Bruhn said Tuesday. "I have no answer."