WAUSAU — A prime riverfront property that has been home to the local Veterans of Foreign Wars chapter for more than four decades has been sold, according to a post on the organization’s Facebook page.
VFW Burns Post #388 sold the property at 388 River Drive to Opportunity of Central Wisconsin Inc., a nonprofit organization that offers services to physically and mentally challenged people. The deal closed on Sept. 1.
But the organization is not dissolving and will continue to provide services to local veterans. VFW officials say the organization remains active and will seek out a new, smaller property that better fits the organization’s needs. The current building, which is about 14,000 square feet, was larger than necessary.
“We plan on celebrating our 100th anniversary (2020) in a new Post home that will better meet our needs for the years to come,” officials said in a Facebook post.
The VFW opted in November 2015 to close the restaurant, lounge and banquet hall and put the building up for sale.
The organization will use the main hall of the Labor Temple every Wednesday for nine months beginning in October to hold weekly bingo games.
Opportunity Inc. will hold off taking full use of the building until Nov. 1 to allow the VFW to honor its contractual commitments and clear out the space.
Located on the east side of the river, the building was constructed in 1975 for the use of VFW Post 388, which was founded in 1920. In the 1980s and 1990s, the VFW added extra space on to the facility, which is currently about 28,000 square feet.
A vintage Corsair jet that stood on the property for years was moved this summer to its new home in Alexander Airport Park, on Wausau’s southeast side.
