THIS IS PART TWO OF A THREE-PART SERIES ON TIEGEN AND KEENAN BRICKSON, OWNERS & OPERATORS OF THE BRIX – ELEVATED STAYS IN CANAL PARK. READ PART ONE AT BUILDINGS ARE MORE THAN BRIX
Tiegen Brickson and his wife Keenan are fast becoming entrepreneurial trailblazers in Duluth’s Canal Park, transforming outdated condos and long-unused spaces into top-tier vacation rentals.
But Tiegen didn’t build The Brix by pretending he knew everything. He intentionally surrounded himself with people who knew what he wanted to know, asked questions, listened and soaked up what they had learned through years of experience.
Those relationships became his mentors, and some of the most important bricks behind The Brix, now a collection of 10 Canal Park condo properties transformed into five-star vacation accommodations available for booking on the Airbnb platform, and direct through TheBrixDuluth.com
Grandpa Jack Showed Him What Mattered
Before The Brix, before the first vacation rental, before Tiegen Brickson knew what he wanted to do with his life, there was Grandpa Jack.
And there was the family cabin on the Pike Lake Chain of Lakes in Iron River, Wisconsin.
Tiegen remembers summers there with generations of family. The cabin, four-wheelers, pontoon and speedboat were simply part of growing up.
“All the best memories of my whole life were surrounded around those things,” Tiegen said.
What he understands now is how much work Grandpa Jack put into making those memories possible.
“He provided such a bedrock of memories for me and my family and multiple generations,” Tiegen said. “He supplied core memories.”
Jack took care of the place. He mowed the lawn and weed-whacked. If a stair was broken, he fixed it before the family returned. He kept the grounds ready and took care of the details.
As a kid, Tiegen saw a cabin.
As an adult building The Brix, he sees something more.
“I think my grandpa was an expert property manager and experience provider,” Tiegen said. “I wanted to emulate that since I was a kid.”
There was something else Tiegen saw in Jack.
“He was also really good with his money and investing and giving back.”
Looking back, Tiegen can draw a remarkably straight line from those summers at the cabin to what he and Keenan are building today.
Grandpa Jack built experiences and memories for generations of his family. Tiegen and Keenan are building The Brix around that same foundation, creating experiences and memories for generations of families to come.
Then Tiegen put it even more simply:
“It’s hard to deny that I just tried to copy my grandpa’s life.”
Jack died last summer. Afterward, Tiegen wrote him a letter.
Dear Grandpa,
I didn’t realize it as a kid, but I always wanted to be like you.
When asked what I wanted to be when I grew up, I didn’t have a job or title in mind. But somewhere inside, I always had a true north for the kind of person I wanted to become. Looking back now, I think so much of that came from you.
You showed me that life was less about what you did from 9 to 5 and more about how you made the people and world around you feel.
And you did it generously.
You built the places for us to breathe, laugh, be together, and make memories.
And they served generations.
You took care of the details, so the moments could simply be ours to enjoy.
And you made us feel welcome.
What I saw as a kid was simply a cabin in Wisconsin. Now I understand the thought, the effort, and the love that went into every square inch of it.
Since you’ve been gone, I’ve felt the weight of the torch you carried, and appreciate the warm, guiding light that it casts. I can only hope to spend my life carrying it forward with the same poise, generosity, and humility as you did before me.
Who knows, maybe I’ll even make a career out of it.
Love,
Tiegen
A Mentor Who Showed Tiegen How Buildings Work
Dan Meierhoff grew up in Canal Park and was a longtime friend of Tiegen’s uncle Kevin Brickson.
As a high school student, Tiegen worked for Dan during a condominium construction project, hauling scrap metal and drywall to dumpsters. Years later, he would return to the same building, this time as a young entrepreneur with plans of his own.
The Meierhoff family’s roots in Duluth’s waterfront go back generations. In 1950, Dan’s grandfather purchased Marine Iron & Shipbuilding, a Duluth shipyard established in the 1880s.
While the company no longer builds or repairs ships, it continues as Marine Iron Properties, with interests that include the marina, parking lot and commercial spaces in the Meierhoff building.
Dan’s father transformed the former Marshall-Wells warehouse into Waterfront Plaza, bringing new commercial uses and eventually condominiums to the building.
In 1987, he built a condominium there for his family.
In 2005, Dan returned to Duluth after his father invited him to help develop 30 condominiums in the building. They completed 11 before the 2008 recession brought the project to a halt.
When Tiegen bought his first outdated Waterfront Plaza condo, he had a vision for what it could become. Dan Meierhoff had the experience to help him get there.
So, Tiegen started asking Dan questions. Contractors. Construction schedules. Mechanical systems. Permitting. Parking. The practical problems that come with turning an idea into a working property.
“I guess I was always a sounding board to him,” Dan said.
“With this new age of VRBOs and online everything, he had this idea and made it work,” Dan said.
Others were already operating vacation rentals in the building, but Dan saw something different in what Tiegen was creating.
“Nobody did them to the quality of what he built them out as,” Dan said. “More modern flair, updated, unique.”
“He’d give me a call: ‘Hey, what should I do here?’” Dan recalled.
How does this part of the building work? How do we get materials in and out? What paperwork is needed to remodel a unit? How do we handle parking for guests who don’t have a front desk to check in with?
L’Etoile du Nord. Go to TheBrixDuluth.com for info and booking
Dan soon discovered something about Tiegen, too.
“I began to realize that he was pretty capable,” Dan said. “He figured things out and built a lot of it himself, putting all the cabinets together, finding less expensive ways to get things done.”
Then something interesting happened. The guy answering the questions started learning from the guy asking them.
“It kind of got my wheels turning, seeing what he was doing,” Dan said.
Dan’s company bought another condo and renovated it to what he called “Tiegen standards.”
Then they turned to Tiegen.
“Tiegen, why don’t you run this for us?”
Today, The Brix manages the “Marine Iron” property.
After more than 20 years working in Waterfront Plaza, Dan said watching what Tiegen was doing gave him some inspiration of his own.
That may be the best measure of what happened between mentor and mentee. Tiegen sought out someone who knew the building, asked questions and soaked up what he could.
Then he earned Dan’s trust.
“I would be a partner with Tiegen anytime, on anything,” Dan said. “I like the way he thinks and I like the way he does business.”
Mark Lanigan of Frandsen Bank & Trust Showed Him How the Numbers Work
By the time Tiegen Brickson met Mark Lanigan of Frandsen Bank & Trust, three banks had already turned down his attempt to finance his first Canal Park condo.
The problem was the property. A privately owned condo within a hotel didn’t fit neatly into conventional lending guidelines.
Mark Lanigan had spent nearly four decades in banking, most of it in commercial lending. He knew conventional banking. He also knew entrepreneurs rarely arrive with conventional ideas.
“Entrepreneurial people need to find and associate with entrepreneurial people,” Mark said.
Frandsen Bank & Trust has entrepreneurship in its DNA. In 1982, entrepreneur Dennis Frandsen purchased his hometown bank in Luck, Wisconsin, the same bank that had turned him down years earlier when he needed financing for his first major timber investment.
Today, the family-owned bank operates in nearly 40 communities.
“The average banker that does not think outside the box would not be a good banker for Tiegen,” Mark said. “There are entrepreneurial bankers.”
In 2007, Mark and his wife purchased two condos in Waterfront Plaza from Dan Meierhoff’s father, Bill. Mark had previously worked with attorneys to establish how banks could finance these unusual condominium-hotel properties.
“So I was familiar with the property,” Mark said. “When I got the telephone call that Tiegen was looking for a loan, you know, it was a pretty easy conversation.”
Mark reviewed Tiegen’s renovation and management plans.
“I looked at his plan and it made sense to me,” Mark recalled.
Frandsen financed the first Brix property.
But the loan was only the beginning of their relationship.
Tiegen kept asking questions. One in particular stuck with Mark:
“How can I be a better client?”
Mark coached him on what a banker needs to see: a profitable business, cash flow, good credit and organized financial records that give a bank confidence to finance future opportunities.
Meanwhile, Mark was watching The Brix grow.
“I watched him as he took on a couple of other properties,” Mark said. “And I talked to those owners and they were really happy with them.”
The online reviews reinforced what he was hearing: “They were all five-star reviews.”
“We upgraded our properties into the Airbnb format,” Mark said. “And then we gave them to Tiegen to see what he could do with them.”
Today, those properties are The Brix Dockside Suites, named for their views overlooking the docks of Marine Iron Marina and the historic William A. Irvin.
Mark and his wife now own four condos in the building, with two managed by The Brix.
The relationship has come full circle. The banker who helped finance Tiegen’s first property is now one of his clients.
Mark has also seen firsthand how Tiegen responds when something goes wrong, from broken fixtures to last-minute maintenance needs.
The Brix Dockside Suites. Go to TheBrixDuluth.com for info and booking
“Tiegen is very particular about making certain that people are taken care of,” Mark said.
And he is quick to recognize Keenan’s contribution.
“Tiegen and his wife, they both. They’re both equally impressive.”
For Mark, the relationship reflects what he values in entrepreneurial clients: initiative, a willingness to learn and the determination to follow through.
“I can’t speak more highly of Tiegen, Keenan, The Brix and everything that they do.”
The Bricks Behind The Brix
Grandpa Jack showed Tiegen what mattered. Dan Meierhoff showed him how buildings work. Mark Lanigan showed him how the numbers work.
Three men. Three generations of experience. Three important bricks behind The Brix.
Tiegen sought them out, asked questions, listened and learned. Then he and Keenan went to work, turning that knowledge into a growing business that is helping shape the future of Canal Park.
Along the way, something remarkable happened. Two of his mentors, Dan and Mark, became his clients. The young entrepreneur they helped get started had earned their trust and their business.
And perhaps that’s the best measure of successful mentoring. What began with advice and encouragement grew into relationships of mutual respect, trust and opportunity.
The Brix continues to grow, one property at a time. And so does the Bricksons’ vision for Canal Park’s future and Duluth’s Destiny.
Grandpa Jack would be proud.
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COMING SOON – PART THREE
The Brix: Historic Walls. Modern Stays. Lasting Experiences
About Duluth’s Destiny
Duluth’s Destiny, a new Destination Duluth series highlighting future-minded entrepreneurs whose ideas, leadership, and investments will help shape what Duluth becomes in the decades ahead.
Each entrepreneur’s story will be told in three parts
Part one – The Entrepreneur’s Duluth Story
Part two – The mentors who shaped the entrepreneur
Part three – The uniquely Duluth business the entrepreneur has built
