University of Wisconsin-Oshkosh's Fox Cities campus in Menasha, April 25, 2023. PC: Fox 11 Online
MENASHA, WI (WTAQ-WLUK) — Winnebago County is restarting work to find a new owner for the former UW-Oshkosh Fox Cities campus.
It comes after Faith Technologies backed out of buying the property following a 90-day assessment period.
“We’ve always kind of had the plan B in mind,” said County Executive Gordon Hintz. “The biggest thing for Winnebago County is to try to get the Communication Arts Center and the fieldhouse up and running to serve the community, as we continue to work on the developing of the rest of the campus.”
Hintz said the county is currently in talks with a local entertainment group in an effort to reopen the buildings.
Winnebago County took ownership of the property last June after UW-Oshkosh closed the satellite campus. Since then, the county has been hard at work to find groups to utilize the vacant space.
“Trying to get stable financial funding to maintain the Communication Arts Center, the Barlow Planetarium and the fieldhouse for both community use and entertainment, but also to have some value added to the property that contributes,” Hintz explained.
The 43-acre plot of land has around 18-20 acres undeveloped closer to 441. The county is looking at a variety of uses for that space, including potential housing developments. Hintz stressed that nothing is set in stone.
“Do you look at parceling parts of the development off? Is it one big development? And I think we’re really at the beginning. We’ve only owned the property for seven months,” he told us.
Hintz added while the county doesn’t have concrete plans for the space, community input is more than welcome. In the coming weeks, they’ll have more information on how residents can share their thoughts on what the campus should become.
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