Artist rendering of The Foundry on 3rd in Wausau
CONLEY COMMENTARY (WSAU) – We learned last week that there are more delays for the Wausau Center Mall redevelopment.
The Foundry on 3rd part of the project – the trendy restaurants and street-level retail space – won’t break ground until 2024. The developers say the reasons are higher material costs and supply chain issues. While this is certainly true, there are undoubtedly other reasons. One is the demand for commercial real estate space. If there were restaurant entrepreneurs clamoring to open shop in downtown Wausau, the developers would be building right now despite higher costs. The delay limits the amount of their money that they have to put into the project while the economy is soft.
I suspect that downtown Wausau already has a glut of eateries. Some seem to be going well. Others always seem to have tables available.
The more difficult lift for the mall redevelopment is the large number of downtown apartments that are proposed. Between new apartments at Riverlife and at the Landmark and on the near west side, we’re reaching the saturation point in the high-end rental market. The small numbers of affordable apartments that are part of these plans are not affordable with rents at $800 a month or more. Working people can’t afford them. Rents in the newly renovated Landmark are more expensive than that – and you’re living in tiny rooms in a remodeled hotel.
Mayor Katie Rosenberg gets some leeway for what’s happening a few blocks north at Riverlife. Previous administrations okayed those projects. And the number of riverfront units that have gone up is far less than what was originally promised. Multiple developers walked away. Those with a good memory remember that the city stepped in to pay the subcontractors who dug the foundations weren’t paid. This should have been a first clue that the rental market for downtown Wausau isn’t as strong as some had suggested.
What the city should be looking for is developers who are willing to put their own money into projects up-front. Alderman Doug Diny, in a letter to the Wausau Pilot & Review, suggests the city’s share should be 10-percent. He says the city is being asked for 30-percent for the mall redevelopment. That’s too much. If the project fails, or if the developers walk away, the city’s money is gone and we’d be left with an empty concrete slab downtown.
Chris Conley
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