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Port Authority, Altec raise the roof 16 | NORTH STAR PORT | SUMMER 2025 Built in 1974-75 at a cost of $5.5 million, the American Hoist & Derrick Company manufacturing plant was (and is) one of the largest industrial facilities on Rice's Point, occupying 35 acres of the Clure Public Marine Terminal and spanning 154,000 square feet. It opened for business 50 years ago this October, with longtime Duluthian and AmHoist president Robert P. Fox praising the steel frame construction and concrete panel walls. Minnesota Governor Wendell Anderson called it the city's "most significant industri- al project in more than half a century," according to the Duluth News Tribune. Since 2002, the building has been home to Altec Industries' Duluth oper- ations, where the company manufactures truck-mounted high-reach devices used in mainte- nance and construction of high-voltage powerlines and other elevated infrastructure. Those lofty efforts occur on land owned by the Duluth Seaway Port Authority, which also issued revenue bonds for construction of the facility. As part of that ongoing rela- tionship, the Port Authority remains involved with Altec on building maintenance. This sum- mer, that translated into a $2.3 million roof rebuild and reinforcing project that will keep Altec employees covered rain or shine—or blizzard—for years to come. "It was a technically complex proj- ect, given the age of the building and the differences in construction code and load-bearing requirements over the course of 50 years," said Dean Lembke, Port Authority director of build- ing and facilities. "But we had a great team involved, including DSGW Architecture, AMI Consulting Engineers, Donald Holm Construction and A.W. Kuettel & Sons, so it went well and we'll be ready for whatever Mother Nature sends our way this winter." PHOTOS / Dennis O'Hara/Northern Images PORT LOGBOOK ABOVE: Workers adjust the angles and apply new materials to the Altec building roof on July 1, 2025, strengthening a structure built in the mid-1970s on Duluth's working waterfront. According to records from the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, approximately 344 feet of snow has descended upon that roof since the facility's formal opening ceremony on Oct. 24, 1975.