WAUSAU, WI (WSAU) — The Wausau city council voted 8-2 to allow Quantum Investments, a South Dakota company, to take over the financing for the downtown Riverlife Villages retail and residential development.
Tuesday’s vote comes after it was revealed that Quantum’s President Michael Frantz was tied to the redevelopment of Green Bay’s historic Hotel Northland in 2013. Frantz didn’t dodge questions about that matter at all, calling the matter complicated and saying certain aspects were beyond his control. “To repurpose a historic property like that, to bring it back to its original grandeur, requires a lot of collaboration between the city, state, and HUD. It was a very, very complicated deal,” said Frantz. And when the primary investor backed out the whole deal came to a screeching halt. “To try to replace that senior lender is extremely difficult.”
When asked why the city should have faith that what happened with the Hotel Northland project won’t be duplicated in Wausau, Frantz pointed to his other successful projects. “I guess I would convey to you what my accountant said to me a couple of years ago. He said ‘Mike, you’re 19 out of 20. You had one failure.’ So I guess it’s that track record. Most metrics that measure success would say that is successful.”
Fratz added that if for some reason he can’t complete the project, he does have a network of other investors that would be able to. But right now he is focused on bringing the Wausau project to life. “In real estate it’s all about location. You’ve got a[n] incredible riverfront, it’s gorgeous, [and it has] been revitalized.” All that adds to his excitement for what the project could be, “This is a $20 million phase, if we develop the whole project it’s more like a $120 million project. It’s important to use that we come out of the chutes with the best possible product. We want to impress the community and everyone involved with the project.”
Residents in Wausau are also antsy for the project to be completed. Pfefferle Management says they’ve received over 20 inquiries about the condominiums so far. Frantz says of the 52 apartment units nearly 40 are already leased or have letters of intent on them.
As for why Quantum isn’t listed with the state’s Department of Financial Institutions, the Wausau project represents their first in Wisconsin. Meaning until now they haven’t had a reason to license here.
Quantum takes over the project form Barker Financial.
