The future of the building at 2 S. Barstow St. remains unclear, but it appears the downtown structure along the south bank of the Eau Claire River won't be an inn as was earlier hoped.
The Eau Claire Redevelopment Authority Wednesday denied a proposal to transform the 102-year-old building into an inn and coffee shop after the potential developers, John and Sharyn Moss, were unable to get financial backing.
RDA members then directed Mike Schatz, the city's economic development administrator, to reopen the project to bids to develop the three-story building into apartments with a business on the ground floor and apartments above. Bids will be accepted during the next 60 days.
"We want to move forward as quickly as possible and get as wide a range of proposals as we can," said Mike DeRosa, RDA president.
Last year the RDA chose the Mosses' plan from among three proposals to redevelop the building. At that time the Mosses were required to obtain $1.2 million for the project, but the couple later requested that figure be lowered to $800,000 because of problems getting money.
On Wednesday the Mosses told the RDA they couldn't find a bank to back their project because it was considered too risky.
"It's a disappointment," Sharyn Moss said. "We really wanted to do the inn. But that's just not possible right now."
The building, known for the brightly colored scenes painted on its windows, has been vacant for years, and city officials were excited about the prospect of its redevelopment. But significant upfront costs, including a requirement to install an elevator, are a major hurdle.
The building has attracted attention from developers, Schatz said, especially as investment increases in the nearby North Barstow Redevelopment District. "We hope other builders will show interest," Schatz said.
The Mosses may be among them. Despite their disappointment, the couple said they hope to offer a bid to develop the building into apartments.
"That's our plan right now," John Moss said.
Emerson can be reached at 830-5911, 800-236-7077 or julian.emerson@ecpc.com.
enoughalready
Let's think about this for a minute, a building that has the basement filled with sand to stabilize it (maybe concrete would have been a better idea) no parking for any possible tenants or customers, upgrading the entire building to meet codes including an elevator. And you wonder why a bank won't loan the money? Have you missed the past18 months where the banks are failing and borrowers are in foreclosure because of stupid lending/borrowing policy. At least immediately to the north they had the common sense to clear the land to rebuild in an organized and realistic fashion. If there is a developer out there that wants to tackle this project, so be it, if not, get all tax payer funded groups out of it.
sadiebaby
As someone who has a fair amount of knowledge about this deal, I am really disappointed in the RDA. They threw up every road block they possibly could to prevent this from happening. The Mosses tried very hard to work with them but in the end, it's become obvious that the RDA is not interested in actually "redeveloping." This project stalled because of bureaucracy and red tape. Very disappointing indeed.
CitizenJimO
That building presents a difficult challenge. It sits in the river during
even moderate high water flows. It would be very difficult to tear down for a needed green space there because it shares a wall with the building just to the south.
The basement has been filled in with sand to keep the walls from collapsing in a
flood situation. It is an attractive, historic building and is basically sound.
It is not just historic in a positive sense but it also represents Eau Claire's historic
disregard for the river. It may come at some expense, but a way should be found to raze it.
djohnson
everyone wants someone to buy the building, rent the building from them, nobody wants to risk losing any money or even risk failing to make a profit. that's fine, this building will sit there empty, losing money, until someone is willing to accept that its not worth what they want for it, otherwise it would have sold.
look at detroit, there's a whole city in the same state, building rotting because nobody wanted to risk not making a profit on them.