The Appleton Redevelopment Authority met 10/12/2022. During that meeting, they went into closed session to discuss real estate negotiations regarding 222 N. Oneida Street (the former site of the old Menn Law Firm building next to the library and the transit center.) No vote was taken on actually acquiring the site, but they did discuss it.
Prior to entering closed session, Valley Transit General Manager Ron McDonald talked to the ARA members about the site and Valley Transit’s vision for its new transit center.
He told the ARA members that Valley Transit had been working on a site assessment and master plan for its transit center redevelopment project. They finished that assessment and determined that the transit center’s current location was still the appropriate location.
They wanted to build a new transit center on that site similar to the Grand River Station in La Crosse which would have an indoor, drive-through transit center on the first floor and then apartments or some other kind of mixed development above it that would be created by partnering with a private developer.
In order to move forward with that project, they needed to acquire the lot on 222 N. Oneida Street which was directly north of the transit center property.
He noted that for them to even be able to acquire that property they would need to finish up their environmental analysis of their own transit center property and the public right-of-way on Franklin Street so that they could get an idea of whether or not the Federal Transit Administration would approve the purchase of the new lot. They also needed to see if the Appleton Redevelopment Authority was interested in selling.
An ARA member asked if they were in the second stage of project development.
General Manager McDonald said it was just the second stage of their site selection process. The first stage had been to determine if the current location was the appropriate location. They had hired the architectural firm LHB to work on the project. LHB had looked at a number of potential locations and whether those sites could handle traffic flow, had the proper utilities in place such as sewer and electrical, etc., and ultimately decided that the transit center’s current location was the correct location.
They were now finishing up their needs assessment for the lower level of the project (the transit center part of the project). As soon as that was completed, they would go out and find a private developer to come on board for the upper level portion of the project. They needed to find a developer in order to know what sort of facility would be built above the transit center and what structural needs there would be. For example, the foundation needs for the overall building would be different if a developer wanted a 2-story structure versus a 7-story building.
A board member mentioned that he was not familiar with the Grand Central Station in La Crosse and asked for more details.
General Manager McDonald explained that it was the transit center in La Crosse. It had over drive-throughs on the lower level and all the buses parked inside which was where riders waited and transferred inside out of the rain and snow. They would put in some heaters so that it would be relatively comfortable during the winter. From the outside, many people would not even recognize it as a transit facility.
He said that they wanted to develop a building that complemented the rest of the buildings that were being constructed in that area, such as the library and the Merge apartment development. “We want to put a landmark structure down there that will fit into that neighborhood.”
An ARA member remarked that buses had diesel fuel engines.
General Manager McDonald said that they were “clean diesel” buses. They started updating their fleet in 2017 and at this point all the buses were clean diesel. They had reduced their emissions by over 92%.
The ARA member wondered if there would be some social stigma to living above a transit center, but both Director of Community and Economic Development Karen Harkness and General Manager McDonald disagreed.
General Manager McDonald said that the La Crosse development had worked out well. Additionally, Valley Transit had already had a number of developers interested in the project. With the right façade, the building could really complement what was going on downtown.
Director Harkness mentioned that the redevelopment of the transit center into a mixed-use project had been a part of the city’s comprehensive plan dating back to 2017 and had also been part of the College North Neighborhood Plan. She and General Manager McDonald had been talking about it for 10 years, and it had been a dream of theirs. [So, if you want to know how some of these projects happen, I guess that’s it. Two people in key positions have a dream and spend 10 years pushing behind the scenes to make it a reality.]
The ARA member’s response was, “Well, I like your enthusiasm.” [It was hard to tell from the tone whether that was meant in a positive or mid-west negative way.]
General Manager McDonald and Director Harkness both touched briefly on the fact that when the College North Neighborhood study had been done, the top two projects identified in that study were the library and the transit center.
Later on in the meeting after the closed session had ended, an ARA member asked if the library or the transit center would be completed first. He noted that although there were some hoops to jump through, the funding for the transit center was available from the Federal Transit Commission now [the implication being it was not for the library]. Director Harkness thought that the library would be completed first and said that the funding for the library was available now, the bids had just come in too high.
View full meeting details and video here: https://cityofappleton.legistar.com/MeetingDetail.aspx?ID=994285&GUID=DD0AA17B-8BCD-4AD4-A7A2-81E701E18F4F
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