Advertisement
“The neighborhood used to be very different,” Lillian said. It all was families, she said.
 |
A lot at the corner of 4th St. and Jackson St. in LaCrosse has been vacant since the inhabitable houses occupying the property were torn down.
PETER THOMSON photo |
“Now we’re the only ones left,” she said. “The other families went places with bigger lots and bigger homes.”
For the past five years, the view from the front door of their small home, brown with orange trim, has been a vacant lot where three houses once stood.
Now the city and La Crosse County are eager to change the landscape on the southeast corner of Fourth and Jackson.
They’re seeking developers interested in purchasing and building on the two parcels in the Powell-Hood Park-Hamilton Neighborhood.
The county acquired the land through a tax foreclosure after a 2002 drug raid.
The houses, which had been converted into apartments, were razed after a city inspector ruled them structurally unsafe.
Neighbors are tired of seeing the property remain empty, city Planning Director Larry Kirch said.
“There are a couple of lovely homes along there,” said council member Audrey Kader, who oversees the district. “And the people who have maintained their homes don’t deserve that.”
Community members told city and county officials they’d like to see small retail businesses and owner-occupied housing.
“My hope is that it will spark a little more pride in the neighborhood,” Kader said.
The city and county’s vision includes a building with one or two spaces for neighborhood businesses on the ground floor, and four or five moderately priced condominiums on the second floor.
Kirch said they’d prefer businesses that can serve the neighborhood, such as a lunch-type restaurant, Internet cafe, beauty salon, barber shop or professional offices.
Residents also made it clear they don’t want liquor stores or payday lenders.
It’s an important corner, on a busy street and bus route, said Brian Fukuda, the county’s community development specialist.
Lillian Lounsbrough recalls catching the bus at the corner to go to work at a downtown bakery.
The convenience is part of the reason they remained in the neighborhood even as it slipped into rentals, she said.
The community used to be peppered with stores such as a bakery and flower shop, said Tim Acklin, the city’s planner for heritage preservation.
Kader remembers a traditional butcher shop and small grocery store.
She said it’s not realistic to think those would survive today.
“Times have changed so much,” she said. “I don’t think a mom-and-pop store would make it based on the neighborhood alone.”
Kader favors specialized retail that would cater to the neighborhood and traffic.
But Fukuda is reluctant to draw more traffic to the site.
“I would prefer to see something more geared toward the neighborhood residents,” he said. “But our No. 1 priority is to get something that the neighborhood can be proud of.”
Both Fukuda and Kirch said it also is important to get something back on the tax rolls.
The corner parcels fall within the Gundersen Lutheran Tax Incremental Finance district.
Such a development would be worth about $1 million, early estimates indicate, if each condo was about $100,000 and the retail space about $500,000, Kirch said.
“We’re looking for a landmark building,” Kirch said. “An anchor for the neighborhood.”
In cooperation with Habitat for Humanity and Couleecap, almost a dozen new homes have been built in the area, including four on Tyler Road, one at Jackson and Seventh, one at Tenth and Redfield, one on Fifth and another on Sixth.
“All these are public investments in the neighborhood,” Kirch said. This latest project is in an effort to lure private investments.
Samantha Marcus can be reached at (608) 791-8220 or smarcus@lacrossetribune.com.
