GREEN BAY, WI (WTAQ-WLUK) – Downtown Green Bay is filled with older buildings, the Green Bay Historic Preservation wants to build on that idea, and create a historic district.
Buildings such as the Brown County Courthouse and the Bellin Building, could soon be part of a new historic district.
Wendy Townsend, with Green Bay’s Office of Economic Development, spoke with WLUK.
“In many downtowns they have a beautiful historic story and it’s important that as a Green Bay community we preserve that story”
Townsend says about 50 buildings would be included in the proposed district.
“To have a district where they all support each other’s architecture, history and story, it’s a much stronger piece for our downtown to be able to be preserved”
She added if the city were to move forward with the historic district, it wouldn’t cost taxpayers anything.
“This helps us bring state and federal dollars into our developments when we do economic development of the downtown”
Townsend says the proposal is only in the first phase and there are several more steps before a historic district could be approved.
The Hotel Northland and the Downtown YMCA, would also be included in the district.
Both buildings already qualified for federal or state funding for their current renovations.