By Shereen Siewert
A $20 million mixed use redevelopment project along Wausau’s river edge is set to break ground this fall, one year later than originally planned, city officials confirmed on Friday.
Phase I of the Riverlife project includes six rental town homes, a 52-unit high end apartment building and a mixed used building that will have commercial office and some restaurant and small retail space, said Wausau Community Development Director Chris Schock.
Iowa-based Frantz Community Investors in February 2016 was chosen by city leaders to develop the 16-acre parcel, located along the Wisconsin River and south of the existing Wausau on Water building. Frantz had been competing with Mosinee-based S.C. Swiderski for the project.
The Samuels Group has been named contractor for the development, Schock said.
The buildings, all of which will be located on land owned by the city, had originally been slated for groundbreaking last year but will now break ground this fall.
City officials in June 2016 approved a $2.75 million aid package to support the project, which includes $500,000 in grants for the building foundations. All the funds will come from tax increment district financing.
The first phase will be followed by additional phases to add more housing and other mixed-use buildings, officials said. The total project could cost between $80 million and $100 million to build, according to city documents.
“The project is to have foundation work started before the end of the year and portions will be open in later 2018 and Spring of 2019,” Schock wrote, in an email to Wausau Pilot and Review.
The reason for the year-long delay was not immediately clear on Friday.
Other key partners in the project include Madison-based Ayers and Associates, which provided site layout services for the plan, along with Mudrovich Architects, a Wausau design firm.
