APPLETON, WI (WTAQ-WLUK) – The space the Conway Hotel and a senior housing facility in downtown Appleton once sat on could soon be the home of a new type of building.
Developers have reached out to the city and are proposing to build a new mixed-use development, on the 100 block of East Washington Street.
If it seems as though apartments, condos and other places to live have been popping up all over downtown Appleton, it’s because they have.
“We trying to really get a mix of all different types of living opportunities in our central business district,” said Karen Harkness, Appleton’s director of community and economic development.
“That’s really why you’ve seen an increase in housing in Appleton and in the central business district, it’s been a very strategic plan to be able to garner additional living units.”
And the new proposed development by Merge LLC could be one of them, located on the SE corner of East Washington Street and North Oneida Street.
It’s for a mixed-use project with 56 apartments on the upper level and commercial space at the street level. The building would include studios and smaller apartments, and Harkness tells FOX 11 it could be viewed as more of a workforce housing development.
“We’ll be able to help some microbusinesses – those are usually locally-owned small businesses that maybe have gotten a start someplace else that’s ready to move to the next step in their business plans.”
Since the demolition of the Conway Hotel more than eight years ago, that site has been empty.
The lot has been vacant since 2013, but Harkness says, it’s a prime location for a development of its kind.
“Close to services, close to entertainment, the walkability, trails the bikeability.”
The hope is that this mixed-use facility will add to Appleton’s economy and to the city, overall.
“It will just make the community more vibrant and vital,” Harkness said.
Wednesday, the Appleton City Council voted to approve the project.
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