By Shereen Siewert
Wausau officials next week will consider legal options and strategy surrounding a proposed $5 million condominium development for the east riverfront and could terminate the agreement in place, according to city documents.
The high-end condos are being constructed by the same group that constructed the Riverlife Villages Phase I development on the city’s east riverfront. The condo project is set for a parcel just south of the previously-completed apartment complex and includes $485,0000 in tax increment financing to defray the cost of DNR cap management and cleanup, geopiers and groundwater or flood mitigation.
A local development partnership between Bob Ohde Construction, Mitch Viegut and Dr. Fernando Riveron, the group assumed control of the Riverlife Villages Phase I project after a series of city partnerships with other groups failed to materialize. The new project is named in legal documents as Riverlife Condos, LLC.
The developer was notified via a Nov. 2 letter by Quarles & Brady, LLP, a law firm contracted by the city, that the group has defaulted on their agreement and is at risk of termination. In the letter, attorney Eric J. Van Schyndle writes that Riverlife was required to satisfy closing conditions by Nov. 1, the date specified in the third amended agreement, putting the project at risk.
The project has been plagued by delays that began early in the process.
Then, developers learned a water main would have run straight through the proposed building – but only after presenting designs that included 20-24 condos priced between $185,000 and $395,000 and an amphitheater for live musical performances directly on the water’s edge.
In 2021, City Planner Brad Lenz told Wausau Pilot & Review that Wausau was always “aware of the water main,” though none was mentioned in the request for proposals on the property or in early plans for the site included in city meeting packets.
In an August memo to the Economic Development Committee, Brodek wrote that one row of condos would be eliminated with the number of condos now totaling 26 units, instead of the earlier proposed 32. She said this would add to the available open green space in the area.
After the memo was issued, city officials approved another amendment revising the condo project’s timelines due to missed deadlines. The original agreement specified May 1, 2021 as a closing deadline. But the property closing deadline was then shifted to Nov. 1 with completion set for May 1, 2024.
Now, members of the Economic Development Committee will again move into closed session to discuss the project, this time considering a notice of default for “uncured violations” of the development agreement…”including termination.”
Viegut did not share any public details about the ongoing issue with the city, and Economic Development Director Liz Brodek did not personally respond to an email requesting additional information.
In March, separate plans for a $24.9 million development on the north riverfront area fell apart, nearly one year after the proposal was approved by the Wausau City Council.
The Committee meets at 5:15 p.m. Tuesday at City Hall, 407 Grant St., Wausau.
