Wisconsin Builder | City Lights | Down the road in northern Wisconsin

Down the road in northern Wisconsin

Ashland

Northland College, a private environmental college with a liberal arts curriculum, is one of Ashland's biggest builders. Even before finishing touches are complete on a $7.5 million campus center there, the school is already planning to spend $11 million on a performing arts center and $700,000 for an athletic field.

The arts center will boast 40,000 square feet and a 750-seat auditorium, and it will be connected to the school with a new 14,000-square-foot classroom addition that's being built on top of an existing library.

Ground will be broken sometime next month, said Erik Guenard, Northland's in-house construction manager.

Meanwhile, a more imminent project is on his mind.

"We'll pick a general contractor within the next day or so for the athletic field," Guenard said last month. "And we'll try to break ground within the next week or so."

The city staff also is busy holding brainstorming sessions to discuss construction projects, said David Frasher, Ashland's city administrator.

"We identified a number of projects that we'll be doing to enhance our waterfront," he said.

Eagle River

Eagle River, with a population of 1,403, is the county seat for Vilas County and the only city in the county. The city also has the distinction of being named a Main Street community in 1999.

Though the only construction work that's been completed recently is streetscaping, Rita Fritz, program manager for the Eagle River Revitalization Program, said the city is taking the program one step at a time.

"Our first priority is to help existing businesses do better, then bring in businesses that will complement what we have," Fritz said.
Eagle River has spent the last three years planning, Fritz said. The first step, she said, was to take inventory of what Eagle River had and spread the word.

"Our promotion committee is working right now on a business directory because even some of our local people don't know what's available in Eagle River," Fritz said. "And we just completed a market analysis to give people an idea economically where we stand."

Gillett

Another designated Main Street community, Gillett has plans for a community center, said Kurt Darrow, president of Revitalize Gillett Inc.

"We've accomplished a change of attitude, and we've got different organizations now working together that haven't before," he said.

Working through the city's Main Street Program brought city groups together, he said.

"The city and the fair board were at odds," Darrow said. "They're now in the process of forming a task force with the fair board, City Council and Revitalize Gillett Inc."

What's emerging, he said, is a 20,000-square-foot exhibition space and a 10,000-square-foot event space that could serve needs ranging from small staff meetings to 600-person weddings.

Another project in the formative stages for the city was spurred on by a man who lives thousands of miles away.

"We have a pledge from an individual to start a museum," Darrow said. "He's lived in Alaska for 45 years.

The man is from Gillett and wanted to do something to honor the memory of his parents, Darrow said. So he's putting up $50,000 toward the project.

"It's possible that'll be done in an existing historic building," Darrow said. "We have one in mind, but it hasn't been purchased yet, so I can't divulge the location."

A goal for the city's Main Street Program is to revitalize its downtown building stock, which is mostly turn-of-the-century construction, and the residents also want to lure tourists.

"We need a niche that will draw people to Gillett and keep them going there once we've gotten them there," Darrow said.

- By Ellen Hickok-Wall

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