Menasha looking to build housing, hotel or event venue at old paper mill site

Common Council formally approved a concept plan 8-0 last month, which calls for 140-160 apartments or condos, 35 townhomes, hotel and banquet space and public access space for a park, fishing pier and walking trail. All plans are concepts, so nothing is concrete.

“There’s just something about being right along the Fox River and enjoying ‘Your Place on the Water’ truly,” said Mayor Austin Hammond. “Just how beautiful that site is and finding a good mix for having housing opportunities in that area as well as outdoor recreation.”

Development could have secondary benefit

The 14-acre site has largely sat vacant for 20 years, previously used by the Banta Corporation and Gilbert Paper Company. It could revitalize its own area while also helping the nearby downtown.

“I think it could be a great way to also rejuvenate and help revitalize the downtown,” said Community Development Director Andrew Dane. “You get that many people living, working close to downtown, that gets them nice spillover impacts.”

Menasha would fill in the actual canal as part of the project, which it hopes to do next year. It has $200,000 allocated in next year’s budget.

“It’s something that should be done, and it’s been long, long overdue,” said Common Council President Ted Grade.

Full project cost not yet determined, city says it wouldn’t prevent funds from going to recovery

Of course, the development comes at a cost. The next two budgets allocate about $550,000 for the canal fill-in and design of the green space, but the total cost is likely in the multi-millions.

Dane says there are two reasons why the city could spend that much instead of dedicating money to tornado recovery.

“We would be utilizing money from our tax increment district down in that area to fund this pre-development work,” said Dane. “So it really wouldn’t be money that was generally available for the rest of the community anyways.”

A tax incremental district finances the project through future tax revenue specific to that development. In essence, Menasha will finance the project, then pay it back with tax money directly from the Lawson Canal site. If it didn’t develop this site, it wouldn’t have that revenue.

It also looks at the growth as a positive for the city.

“For the city to really increase its tax base, we need to look at some of these high-value sites on the waterfront,” said Dane.

Dane hopes development will start within the next 2-3 years. A former plan called to expand the canal and create a kayaking course, but it failed due to environmental regulations.