Take a closer look at La Crosse’s downtown developments
Multimillion-dollar revamp set for county and Associated Bank building
LA CROSSE, Wis. (WKBT) — Lot C is expected to become a $68 million complex that will house a new Associated Bank building, among other things. But there are two other multimillion dollar projects in the works that are a result of the Lot C deal: a revamp of the Associated Bank building and county administrative center.
Stizo Development bought the county administrative center for $250,000 and will turn it into a $9 million student housing facility.
“I think when you look at the La Crosse market, we are fairly healthy in the retail and office areas. There are still some vacancies out there, but one area that we continue to see the demand is in student housing,” Paul Borsheim, co-owner of Stizo Development said.
Stizo developers are creating the building with Western Technical College students in mind, but are unsure how involved the college will be with the project.
“Now that we own the building we can start talking to Western about their needs and determine if this is a private residence hall or if this is something we are going to partner with Western on,” Borsheim said.
Once Stizo starts the development, county officials will move into the Associated Bank building, which the county purchased for $4.6 million.
“We will be building out what is currently the drive-thru area of the bank, and that will become office space,” Tara Johnson, chair of La Crosse County Board of Supervisors, said.
The total cost will be about $20 million. One of the goals of the project is to reconfigure offices and departments to make them more user-friendly for La Crosse county residents.
“If they are going build a house and they are going to want to see land conservation, and the zoning office and environmental health they can get at all of those offices more easily,” Johnson said. “Instead of right now where they have to go in between two different buildings.
Associated bank will remain open downtown. It will become a part of the development on Lot C as part of the deal with the developer Weber Holdings. The bank is scheduled to move in by June 2016.
