Husband and wife Scott Harrison and Nancy Burns recently sold Lutsen Resort, a business they owned and grew over the past 30 years. The new owners are Bryce Campbell and his mother, Sheila, who own North Shore Resort Company. Scott and Nancy will remain in the community and continue to serve on various boards and committees. Photo courtesy of Katie Krantz
Lutsen Resort, Minnesota’s oldest and one of the state’s grandest resorts, sold on August 15 to Bryce Campbell and his mother, Sheila, owners of North Shore Resort Company.
Long time owners Scott Harrison and Nancy Burns described the sale as “a bittersweet moment for us.” The husband and wife have owned the iconic business for 30 years.
Going forward, Burns and Harrison said they plan to remain in Cook County and stay active in community organizations.
Before the purchase, Bryce Campbell was listed as president of Campbell Hospitality Group (CHG) and his mother, Sheila, vice president. It’s not known at this time if North Shore Resort Company will replace or be an addition to Campbell Hospitality Group.
On the CHG website it states: “We are a smaller hospitality company that has proven success in smaller markets and have demonstrated a unique ability that we wish to apply to larger facilities in our long-term expansion plans to grow our company.
“We are innovative in our industry and it shows well with customer feedback. Keys to success in our company will be our detail to marketing and our solutions for maximizing profit from our multiple revenue centers.”
On the same website page Bryce Campbell says, “Right out of school I entered the hospitality industry as I was sure it was my calling, since then I have transformed several properties in the industry and have settled into my calling.
“In this business I am young and aggressive for results and have a strong ability to delegate our team members, engineer our food-service menus and operations, keen detail for interior design of our facilities, and take an outside the box approach to our marketing!”
His mother, Sheila Jean Campbell is vice president of the company. She went into business with her son in 2002, and has taken the roles involved with the financial, office administration and payroll side of the business backing Bryce’s executions of the operations.
It’s not known how much the property sold for. It was originally listed at $9.9 million in 2017 but according to BizBuySell the price dropped to $8,500,000.
The Minneapolis Star & Tribune named Lutsen “Best North Shore Resort” and Minnesota Monthly Magazine dubbed it “Most Romantic Resort.”
Lutsen Resort is situated on the Poplar River and on the shore of Lake Superior, with lodging for 700 guests, two swimming pools, a spa, restaurant, ballroom, golf, and a hop, skip, and jump to Lutsen ski hill and Superior National golf course,
History of Lutsen Resort
At age 18 CAA Nelson emigrated from Sweden to America, settling in a place he called Lutsen. Four years later CAA filed for homestead for the current property and one year later, 1886, the first guests stayed at the Nelson home. In 1893 CAA built a house that had hotel rooms on the second floor.
From 1887 to 1910 steamships brought supplies up the shore to Lutsen Resort.
A winding road from Duluth to the North Shore was built in 1918, opening the door to many folks who would now come to visit, not just fish and hunt. Two years later CAA added a lobby, dining room and 30 guest rooms to the main lodge.
Two big things happened in 1948. One, the main lodge burned to the ground and two, CAA opened Lutsen ski hill.
A Lundie-designed lodge opened in 1949 but was destroyed by fire two years later. In 1952 a second Lundie-designed lodge was built. Dupont’s Milar Bubble was installed over the swimming pool in 1955, the first of its kind in the world.
Scott and Nancy purchased the business in 1988. From 1993 to 2000 they added Lakeside Log Cabins. In 1997 they opened the Sea Villa Guest Services building and in 2003 the Poplar River Condos opened with the Cliff House Townhome development following in 2005.
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