Business booming in Onalaska

$10 million in commercial developments

LA CROSSE, Wis. (WKBT) — Onalaska City officials said they haven’t seen so many building permits since 2006. While a lot them are for residential properties more and more are going toward businesses. Business owners said the area is so attractive because of Onalaska’s population growth.

Kujak Orthodontics hasn’t been open in Onalaska for long, but in that short time, business has really picked up.

“In the last two and a-half years we’ve seen our business grow thirty percent,” Dr. Dave Kujak, owner of Kujak Orthodontics said.

So much so that Kujak decided the only thing to do was to move into a new office, double the size of the current one.

“It will be a state of the art orthodontic facility just about a mile up the road,” Kujak said.

In addition to Kujak, Associated Bank, Allergy Associates, Firefighters Credit Union and the YMCA are each building in Onalaska right now.

“It’s a great place to live we have great schools here, we have a wonderful quality of life here and I think that show’s with the number of people coming in,” said Brea Grace the land use and development director, City of Onalaska.

Officials said the population boom, specifically of young families, is helping businesses boom and all of it is helping the city tax base.

“Healthcare costs continue to go up gas cost continue to go, so as our assessed value goes up hopefully we can keep a level tax rate in the city,” Grace said.

And with even more land to develop on, city officials suspect businesses will continue growing for years.

“You never know what the future is going to hold obviously, but we definitely put ourselves in a position to be successful,” Kujak said.

Kujak Orthodontics and most of the businesses currently building right now are set to be open by 2016.