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The real estate investment trust, which made the highest bid at a sheriff’s sale July 11, assigned the offer to purchase to Bob Thorud, Rick Beyer and Eugene Shumann, incorporated as River Mountain LLC, Beyer said. They paid the bid price of $3.8 million.
“I’m nervous and excited, wrapped into one ball,” Beyer said after the transaction was complete. “It’s a good project, and it’s going to be fun.”
The apartments and retail space at the ramp, which opened in 1999, went on the auction block after the developer, Market Square Housing LLC, defaulted on its loan and failed to pay it off during the six months granted from the Jan. 9 foreclosure judgment.
“These individuals are known to have great business acumen and business relationships within the area,” said Bud Miyamoto, executive director of Downtown Mainstreet Inc.
“I think it’s great that someone of the stature of these three owners is going to be involved in this. It will be a big plus for the city and downtown to bring this building up to the stature that it deserves.”
“It will be just wonderful to get rid of that ugly scaffolding that has been there so long,” he added.
The buyers plan on having the major repairs — to the brick, windows and roof — done by next summer, Beyer said.
They will begin with the brick and windows, and the owner of the company that created the brick system used on the building will be here Tuesday to determine what is needed, he said. The buyers hope that work will begin by September, he said.
While the scaffolding is up to repair the bricks, he said, flashing will be installed around all the windows so no water can go behind the bricks.
The roof will be repaired after the window and brick repairs are completed and the scaffolding removed, he said.
All of work, except for the brick repairs, will be done by area tradesmen, Beyer said. He would not reveal how much the buyers plan to spend on repairs, but he said they will pay for the repairs and the work is not contingent on recovering damages from the former owner.
Peter Ogden of Milwaukee, the court-appointed receiver on the property, has done a good job of inside repairs, he said. As apartments come open, Beyer said, the new owners will take care of any problems.
The buyers have asked John Unnasch, on-site property manager for Ogden, to stay on as manager, and he has accepted.
“The sale is a step in the right direction,” Unnasch said. “The thing I like most is that they are willing to do the improvements that are needed on the site.”
The 62 apartments are all rented, and there is a waiting list until mid January, Unnasch said. Beyer said the rents, between $600 and $1,800, seem to be in line with the market.
But Beyer said that five of the eight retail spots on the ground floor are vacant. One of the first tasks will be to clean and ready them for showing within 30 days, he said.
This is the first project the three buyers have done together. Thorud and Shumann have worked together on Ridgeview Heights, and Thorud formerly was one of the owners of Cedar Creek Country Club in Onalaska, Wis. His other projects included Cedar Meadows in Holmen, which he developed with Don Zietlow.
Shumann owns Shumann & Associates in Stoddard, Wis., and is one of the owners of Tarkman Associates Inc., which makes vinyl boots in part of the former LaCrosse Footwear factory.
Beyer owns several apartments and said he took Arrowhead Apartments from 70 percent occupancy in 2002 to 95 percent occupancy in 2005. “It’s not rocket science,” he said. “It’s just work.”
Joan Kent can be reached at (608) 791-8221 or jkent@lacrossetribune.com.
