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Transportation changes will bring business hot spots
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| Transportation is changing in the Chippewa Valley on many
levels. Here, traffic continues on Highway 124 while an earth mover crossed at an overpass that has since been torn down.
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By Jeffrey Hage
The “Field of Dreams” approach to development worked on the silver screen. But can reality mix with fantasy along a major highway project running through Eau Claire and Chippewa counties and make everyone’s dreams come true?
All indications point to a home run for the city of Altoona and the village of Lake Hallie when the Highway 53 bypass winds through those communities beginning in 2005. Eau Claire and Chippewa Falls might have to work a little harder to avoid being stranded at the plate.
The project was once the source of great controversy, as the merits of inner and outer corridor routes were debated. But most agreed a new route was necessary to spur economic development and to relieve congestion on Highway 53’s current route between Chippewa Falls and Eau Claire.
Soon, Chippewa Valley residents will find new developments popping up along the Highway 53 bypass through Altoona and Lake Hallie.
Eau Claire is sure to benefit from the volume of traffic the new highway brings into the area, while Chippewa Falls may have to wait in line for the opening of the Highway 29 bypass to reap the benefits of highway development.
Altoona and Lake Hallie have similar development plans on the table that include everything from hotels and restaurants to commercial, industrial, residential and even recreational endeavors.
The Highway 53/29 interchange may look like a jumble from above, but it will soon become one of the best known interchanges in the Valley.
Altoona excited
Altoona sits better than most communities along the new Highway 53 corridor, said Scott Rasmussen, Altoona city administrator. Its interchange will be the gateway to the city, and also the primary exit to Eau Claire’s central business district from Highway 53.
But that’s not what gets Altoona officials excited.
Work goes on at the 130th Avenue overpass at Highway 29.
Altoona owns 240 acres of property prime for development, including land adjacent to the Highway 53 / Altoona Interchange at present-day Birch Street. The 240 acres also includes frontage along the Eau Claire River.
City leaders have a vision for a development called River Prairie that will be ideally suited for development once the bypass is completed, Rasmussen said.
Altoona has never had an attractive gateway to its city, relying on Spooner Avenue running east from Eau Claire’s Highland Avenue beginning at Hastings Way, or 10th Avenue running north/south between Highway 12 and Spooner Avenue.
The Altoona Interchange is the city’s opportunity for a real gateway.
“Our council has agreed that this is our one chance to shape our future, and that’s something they’ve taken seriously. They’ve planned the infrastructure correctly and have determined what they want Altoona to look like,” Rasmussen said.
“Altoona is looking for a commercial boom along the bypass, but frankly, from the start we were not looking for a big-box retailer. We had a little different vision, it’s fair to say.”
That vision includes specialty shops, restaurants and a hotel. Altoona has also discussed a water park and convention center as possible tenants.
Housing will also play a big role, and plans for “The Estates at River Prairie” are already in place. The city has sold considerable acreage to a private developer for a high-end residential development that could be fully developed by 2006.
Any Altoona development along the bypass will be highly visible because a major interchange will be at the site and municipal utilities are immediately available. In fact, 3D Strategies, Inc., an Eau Claire consulting firm, says no other parcel along the proposed highway appears to have the advantages of the Altoona interchange.
Hallie moving forward
“Not so fast,” might be the collective cry from Lake Hallie, which has a strong development plan and something Altoona doesn’t have — deals signed, sealed and delivered, with Wal-Mart and Menards for a retail development at the village’s Highway 53 interchange.
“Village status has created good opportunities for Lake Hallie,” said Pete Lehmann, Lake Hallie president since the village’s inception in April 2003.
With Highway 53 converging with Highway 29 in the area of County OO, Lake Hallie is also on the verge of an economic boom. The traffic volumes and visibility it will have in years to come will define its future, Lehmann said.
"We have a unique opportunity that will be a win/win situation for all our residents and our manufacturing base," Lehmann said. "It's not an opportunity you have very often."
Lake Hallie is counting on its future taking root along a frontage road running between County OO to the north and Melby Road to the south. It is on the north end of this 2.5-mile tract, behind ShopKo and Farm & Fleet, that Wal-Mart and Menards will soon call home. Lake Hallie has also inked deals for gas stations and convenience stores, a hotel, and a new financial institution. Village leaders are confident a number of restaurants will follow suit.
Tax incremental financing districts have been created to fund development, and are a vital part of the village’s future, Lehmann said. TIF districts also allow the village to look beyond commercial development in its vision for the future, Lehmann said, by financing roads, sanitary sewer and water, extension of utilities, site grading and improvements, landscaping and sidewalks.
The TIF district covers a portion of the village's south-central side and contains mostly vacant land. Incentives a TIF district can provide will allow the village to remain competitive with neighboring communities when it comes to attracting industry, and provide a chance to expand its employment base.
"And with projects being financed by tax proceeds, the cost of improvements is nominal to our residents," Lehmann said.
Eau Claire advantages
While Altoona and Lake Hallie focus on new development, the fact that Highway 53 is deemed a bypass presents its own set of challenges for Eau Claire. The new highway is designed to divert traffic away from Eau Claire and to reduce traffic on the existing inner-city corridor.
“We all know major highway systems generate new development. How that effects Eau Claire, I don’t yet know,” said Don Norrell, Eau Claire’s city manager.
Preliminary traffic models have indicated that Eau Claire will not see a major reduction in traffic along the present-day Highway 53.
“The existing corridor will see considerable traffic, because those using Hastings Way today probably won’t switch to the new highway,” Norrell said.
For that reason, he sees Eau Claire, Altoona and Lake Hallie all benefiting from the Highway 53 bypass. He sees the bypass as another opportunity to attract new visitors to his city.
“The corridor will generate new development, and we hope that people getting off at the Altoona or two Hallie exchanges will come into Eau Claire to see all the city has to offer,” Norrell said.
Chippewa Falls challenges
Highway 53’s future poses a different kind of problem in Chippewa Falls, where city leaders aren’t looking to capitalize on new development from the highway so much as protecting its existing developments when people begin flocking to fancy, new big-box retailers located just outside its southern city limits.
“It will present challenges for our downtown,” said Doug Sandvick, Chippewa Falls’ mayor. “Hallie is just a skip away and the new development is on our heels. It puts pressure on our downtown to band together and support each other.”
But Chippewa Falls businesses have had time to prepare for the future and are moving along the right path, he said. They have been forging a niche based on good service and competitive pricing.
“And we offer a lot of things the big retailers won’t have, like the ambiance of downtown Chippewa Falls and the sense of being part of a close-knit community,” Sandvick said.
He said Highway 53 has never been good for attracting traffic to Chippewa Falls. The highway bypasses the city to the south, and gives travelers a poor picture of what the community is all about as it moves north along the city’s west side.
Highway 29 has always done more for the city, and despite a new Chippewa Falls bypass currently under construction, Sandvick continues to rely on Highway 29.
Chippewa Falls has 75 acres of prime developable land where Highway 29 will meet with Seymour Cray Sr. Boulevard on the far eastern edge of the city limits. The state owns more than 200 acres of land next to it. Sandvick said the city and state will jointly develop the entire property.
Sandvick said there are two prime locations for big-box retailers and plans are already in the works to earmark considerable land for other office and commercial developments. New residential housing also figures prominently into the city’s development plans, he said.
Sandvick predicts Chippewa Falls’ Highway 29/Seymour Cray development will eventually contain hotels, restaurants and the obligatory gas stations. He also envisions the Chamber of Commerce relocating its visitors center there.
“The pieces will be in place to get people to stop out there in Chippewa Falls. We then have to have the pieces in place to lure them downtown to spend the afternoon,” he said.
Jeffrey Hage is a reporter for the Chippewa Herald in Chippewa Falls. Contact the Chippewa Valley Business Report at (715) 723-5515, or through www.chippewavalleybusinessreport.com.
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