|
WAUSAU EAST: Downtown enjoys $100 million revival
By Mark Multer
Wausau Daily Herald
April 17, 2006, Progress Section
Residents of Wausau circa 1907 wouldn’t recognize the downtown as it stands today, although the same might be said of local residents from 1997.
That was before the city acquired and demolished old buildings on the 400 block, now a downtown grassy square. It predated the building of the Great Hall and the completion of ArtsBlock. And developments such as the Jefferson Street Inn; Riverside Place, which houses Wausau Benefits and Wipfli; and the 11-story office tower being built by Dick Dudley weren’t even on the horizon.
Many elements have come together to usher in the downtown renaissance of the past decade. The catalyst for change, though, came nearly 25 years ago with the building of the Wausau Center mall in 1983, said Mark Craig, who managed the mall prior to his current position as general manager for Compass Properties.
“The mall was a tremendous commitment by city leaders to make the downtown healthy,” Craig said. “That they located in downtown is significant, because there are very few regional hubs that are downtown and very few downtown malls that are successful.”
Private investors such as Dudley and John Noel, who owns Compass Properties, have done their part to shine a new light on the downtown, as well.
Craig estimates more than $100 million has been spent on downtown revitalization efforts since 2000. He points to the $13 million raised by the Performing Arts Foundation for its ArtsBlock, $10.5 million spent to build Riverside Place, $20 million spent by the city to build the Jefferson Street parking ramp and retail spaces, another $20 million spent by Dudley on the riverfront office tower, plus $14.5 million spent by Noel and other investors on the Gateway at Washington Square and Jefferson Street Inn and nearly $12 million for The Palladian project being managed by Compass.
“John Noel and his wife, Patty Noel, are Newman (Catholic High School) graduates, and they’ve really stepped up and done some very important things to help their hometown,” Craig said. “It’s not just the work we’ve done but the work a lot of people have done downtown. If you go around and add up the development downtown, it exceeds $100 million, and a lot of it has been private investment.”
Kevin Korpela works across the street from ArtsBlock as an architect at Becher-Hoppe Associates, and last year he refurbished an older building at 607 Third St. to open DowntownGrocery.com. He said that when he looks at the recent changes and innovations downtown, he can’t help but liken it to the progressive nature of those who founded Wausau more than a century ago.
“What is special about Wausau is its founding mothers and fathers were themselves risk-taking individuals who moved to Wausau looking for opportunities for lumber,” he said. “But they were smart risk-takers. Knowing that lumber would be depleted, they diversified and took additional risks to create new companies that are now the foundation of Wausau — Wausau Insurance, Marathon Electric and Wausau Paper.
“To continue that and to participate in that innovation, now 100 years later, and to reinvigorate the downtown with the business and people, it has these great possibilities and it’s true to the spirit of those founders.”
Craig considers the development of downtown residential space to be the final piece of the puzzle, allowing people to live as well as shop, eat and play in the district. Compass Properties is in the process of building six downtown condos as part of The Palladian project and will be renovating four downtown apartments in the coming years.
“The downtown looks wonderful, there’s been a lot of hard work and a lot of blood sweat and tears, but it would be nice to see more people support the businesses down there,” he said. “The goal is to bring more people downtown, and I would say we’re about 80 percent down this path.
“I think, in any community, the identity of a community relates directly to a downtown area, and if the downtown is healthy and vibrant, it helps the entire community.”
Copyright (c) Wausau Daily Herald. All rights reserved.
|
|
