Artist rendering of 'The River' concert venue. Image courtesy: The River
WAUSAU, WI (WSAU) – A proposal for the concert venue “The River” was brought in front of the Wausau Economic Development Committee on Tuesday night and received a mixed response.
Grand Theatre Director Shawn Wright spoke before the proposal was laid out saying, “It’s getting harder and harder to get artists to play markets like ours and others across the country due to companies like LiveNation.” he continued by saying “I know the developers are saying they can get the artists here…they can’t…these artists are not going to skip Madison, Milwaukee or Chicago and they aren’t going to just add Wausau along the way contrary to what you hear.”
Joe Ellis and Anna Herman of VY Properties laid out their proposal to the committee which included projects that estimate that the venue could bring in 250,00 attendees annually and $53 million in annual spending for the region.
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The Committee brought up concerns such as the proposed timeline for the venue to open which Ellis and Herman have stated could be as early as next fall. They also had questions about what level of investment the city will need to put forward which was estimated to be around $2.6 million by VY Properties.
As the discussion continued the Committee decided that an additional survey should be conducted to ensure the demand for a venue like this is truly wanted and supported by the public.
“I thought it was a very successful meeting and we expected some questions since it is a big project and means a lot to the city and local economy so people should be asking all the right questions.” Ellis said and continued by saying, “We’re excited that the committee has decided to continue the decisions and get a few answers to the questions which we’re very confident that they’re going to be thrilled with the data that they see.”
At this time there is no timetable for when the project will begin but decisions are expected to continue over the next few months as more data becomes available.
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