Plans afoot to refurbish Solem Hotel for housing

The currently condemned Hotel Solem building in downtown Cloquet could become 18 market-rate apartments, if plans by a pair of structural engineers click into place.

The three-story building at 915 Cloquet Ave. was constructed after the 1918 Fires decimated Cloquet, with the first section going up in 1919 and an addition in 1923. The city gained possession of the former Mexico Lindo building in 2022, citing public safety issues to condemn the building and using eminent domain statutes to take over ownership.

As more was revealed about both the construction and condition of the building, commun...