La Crosse planning manager shares success behind filling both former Shopko sites

LA CROSSE (WKBT)--Both former Shopko sites are hustling and bustling again. Aldi and Blue Zone Pickleball now call them home.

Planning manager Tim Acklin says a lot of the credit goes to the people who own the buildings, but the city still helps out.

"What we've been able to do is facilitate local developers. Getting in contact with out of state owners of those buildings and purchasing them," he said.

The city connects developers with their property owners to facilitate other sales and interests. Figuring out if a space needs to be rezoned or not is vital. The planning department makes it easier.

"What we try to do to make it easier is we make sure proper zoning is in place so that way it's easy to have uses just be permitted," Acklin explained.

They also try to make sure they have financial programs available for developers, if they need to rezone. While both shopping centers are busier again, Acklin says there's many reasons why it took five years

to replace the two Shopko's.

"One is the process to try to acquire it from out of state entities that previously owned it. That's not a simple process to allow them to get to the sale of the property and local people to buy them," he explained

Acklin also blames the pandemic saying interest rates and the price of materials has increased since then.

"It's made it from a financial standpoint a lot more difficult to fill these spaces and there's a lot of out of the box thinking and challenges for finding that financial strategy," he said.

La Crosse still has some vacancies. Some are slated to become more housing while nothing has been planned yet for others.

"I know the Wells Fargo site is vacant," he explained. "That is something that we are working with other local developers and other outside agencies to try to determine what we can do ensure that

the highest and best use goes to that site or even redeveloped into something else," he explained.

Acklin tells me the vacant Wells Fargo has been identified as a site of redevelopment. The city hopes a multi-story mixed-use building takes its place.

​COPYRIGHT 2024 BY NEWS 8 NOW/NEWS 8000. ALL RIGHTS RESERVED. THIS MATERIAL MAY NOT BE PUBLISHED, BROADCAST, REWRITTEN OR REDISTRIBUTED.