Proposed Entertainment Venue No Longer Coming to Wausau

Monday, August 7th, 2023 -- 11:00 AM

A proposed entertainment venue in Wausau is dead in the water.

According to a press release from VY Properties regarding “The River”, “following the June Economic Development Committee meeting, in which “The River” was formally introduced, the committee directed city staff to continue discussions with VY Properties, and negotiate terms for an independent “market analysis"."

"We certainly understand the desire for the city to conduct thorough due diligence relating to all financial and infrastructural aspects of future growth in the area. Staff subsequently obtained estimates and proposed that VY Properties pay up to fifty thousand dollars, for a “feasibility report” - which is a markedly different study, and would also come with a minimum of a four month timeline to complete."

"As a result of further discussions, it has become apparent to us that the city of Wausau is not in a position to meet the infrastructural needs of a development of this scale, which would draw thousands to the city multiple times per week."

"These include road and traffic improvements to the downtown area and improved public parking. Such infrastructure improvements could take years. Staff has estimated to VY Properties that in a “best case” scenario, construction for parking and roadway improvements could begin sometime in 2025 or 2026.”

“It was further explained that due to the financial status of the city, money for such improvements would need to be borrowed which could take additional time. We have notified the Economic Development Committee members that we will no longer be pursuing this development in Wausau at this time."

"We strongly believe that the regional economy will greatly benefit from the venue, including Wausau, and we will be exploring other potential building site opportunities in the area. To be clear, our extensive research and business planning has led us to conservatively estimate an economic impact to the local economy of 53 million annually."

"Our proposed 2.6 million in contribution from the city of Wausau was solely in the form of reverse TIF payments, which means absolutely not one dollar of paid tax by residents would benefit VY Properties.”

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