County panel favors Weber plan for Lot C

A La Crosse County committee gave its nod today to a $68 million proposal by Weber Holdings to build offices, retail space and 94 housing units on county-owned Lot C just south of the Law Enforcement Center in downtown La Crosse.

Weber Holdings, headed by Logistics Health Inc. CEO and founder Don Weber, was the committees narrow choice over a combined plan by Borton Construction, Three Sixty Real Estate Solutions and Doerflinger developer Mike Keil. Doran Companies of Bloomington, Minn., was taken out of the running almost immediately.

Along with the housing, the winning proposal calls for a cafe and market discussions already have begun with a potential, yet-unnamed market tenant along with 100,000 square feet of office space for 500 health care-related jobs Weber pledged it will add downtown over three years. It also has space as requested for Associated Bank, which had agreed to sell its building at 605 State St. to the county as a new administrative center if it could move to Lot C. The total taxable value of the finished complex was estimated at $54 million.

Development of Lot C is part of the countys interlocking plans that include the selling the administrative center at 400 N. Fourth St. to Stizo Development LLC a partnership of Three Sixty and Borton that would gut the building to remove asbestos and then convert it to student housing and shifting county offices to the Associated Bank site.

Like the Weber concept, the Borton-Three Sixty-Doerflinger proposal was a mix of office, retail and residential space, plus a hotel later on after the local market has time to absorb two other downtown area hotels now in the works. But the development would be in phases that run through 2020, including plans for adjacent land that now has the main post office and had until recently been a regional sorting site.

Members of the countys Administrative Center and Downtown Campus Study Committee acknowledged that while they liked both local presentations, the fact Weber Holdings wanted to build the entire complex as a whole rather than in segments gave it a slight edge. The inclusion of street level and underground parking was a plus as well, committee members said.

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County panel favors Weber plan for Lot C