Second floor of Fox Commons will open to Lawrence University students this fall

APPLETON — The $33.6 million transformation of City Center Plaza into Fox Commons will reach a milestone in August with the completion of the second-floor apartments that will house Lawrence University students.

Work on the first-floor tenant spaces will be finished by the end of the year or early next year, and the buildout of the Lawrence University apartments on the third floor will be done before the start of the fall 2025 semester.

The developers behind Fox Commons — Dark Horse Development and The Boldt Co. — sold 34,000 square feet of space on the first and second floors as a condominium to Mosaic Family Health for its new Appleton clinic. That renovation is a separate, concurrent project that will be finished later this year.

Cole Alsbach, vice president of operations for Dark Horse, said a lot of headway has been made since construction started 11 months ago.

"We've definitely encountered some difficulties with this project being an adaptive reuse type building, but it's nothing that we haven't been able to work through and get over," Alsbach told The Post-Crescent. "Ultimately, we've been very happy with how this project has progressed thus far."

More: Here's what to know about the young developers taking on Fox Commons

The 180,000-square-foot complex at 10 E. College Ave. promises to be a hub of downtown activity. In addition to the apartments and health care and wellness services, it is being marketed as retail space, commercial offices and food and beverage outlets.

The property also will serve as a pedestrian way between downtown and the College North Neighborhood that includes the new $40.4 million Appleton Public Library , the site of the new $26.8 million Appleton Transit Center and housing developments such as Urbane 115, Rise Apartments and Crescent Lofts .

The pedestrian way will be available to the public late this year or early next year.

Alsbach said the renovation of the College Avenue facade has generated positive comments from the public.

"We definitely put a lot of time and effort in that exterior facade making sure it blended with all the other architectural elements along College Avenue," he said. "We really made it feel like separate buildings, rather than one long monolith that it once was."

Before the property became City Center Plaza, it was the Avenue Mall.

Who are the tenants of Fox Commons?

The first floor will be occupied by Mosaic Family Health , Prevea Health , gener8tor and The Wild Goose Exchange .

Leasable spaces of 12,000 square feet, 8,000 square feet and 1,552 square feet remain available on the first floor.

"We're seeking local retail and food businesses to help fill up that space," Alsbach said.

The second floor will be occupied by Mosaic and Lawrence University , and the third floor will be occupied solely by Lawrence.

Across the two floors, Lawrence will lease 95,000 square feet of space and have 173 beds in 49 apartments. The setup will enable students who are pursuing business, entrepreneurship and pre-health majors to study and work alongside organizations in their fields of study.

Mosaic is a downtown clinic that provides health care to underserved populations in the Fox Valley. It received more than $7.7 million through the American Rescue Plan Act to help fund its relocation and expansion.

Mosaic Executive Director Lee Vogel said the clinic will be located on the first floor and its educational partner, Fox Valley Family Medicine Residency , will be located on the second floor.

"We plan on moving in the first week of December," she said.

Vogel said Mosaic's current building at 229 S. Morrison St. will be sold to U.S. Venture. The company sought the property before it decided to make the 222 Building its corporate headquarters .

Is city money involved in the project?

The Common Council approved an agreement with Fox Commons that states Appleton will provide nearly $4.4 million in public funds to make the project happen.

The money will be funded through Tax Incremental Financing District 11 and will be paid to the developers over time — estimated at 15 years — as sufficient property taxes on the new development are collected.

As part of the agreement, Appleton negotiated several provisions to further its long-range plans, including the pedestrian easement, the pedestrian orientation of the first floor and a prohibition on converting any housing units to tourism rooming houses.

Contact Duke Behnke at 920-993-7176 or dbehnke@gannett.com . Follow him on Twitter at @DukeBehnke .

This article originally appeared on Appleton Post-Crescent: Second floor of Fox Commons will open to Lawrence University students this fall