North Shore: Residential Property Values Could Jump With Great Lakes Clean-Up

A new study by researchers with the Brookings Institute claims Great Lakes cities stand to gain billions in economic benefits through lake restoration. The study says the city of Duluth alone would see property values skyrocket by 200-300-million dollars if the Great Lakes region's water quality was restored. A recent follow-up to a study released in 2007 estimates that it will cost 20-billion dollars to restore the Lakes, but the region would reap benefits valued at ten times that amount. The two larges cities on the Lakes, Chicago and Detroit, would see property values soar by up to seven-billion dollars.