More parking proposed at former theater site
By Scott Bellile
The city of New London will try to acquire the downtown property that was previously home to the Wolf River Theatrical Troupe building.
At an Oct. 9 meeting, the New London City Council voted unanimously to offer the Stoughton-based real estate company Fidelity Direct Leasing $8,920 for the vacant lot at 225 W. North Water St.
The 122-year-old Wolf River Theatrical Troupe building was demolished in 2015 because Fidelity Direct Leasing decided it would be too expensive to repair numerous structural issues. Earlier that year, bricks began falling off the building.
Scott Bellile file photo
The proposal to purchase the property was introduced last month at a New London Economic Development Committee meeting last month.
“It seems like it’s a valuable piece of property that may not come up often,” committee member Bill Bishop said Sept. 25. “And we’ve talked about [turning the property into] parking, not recently, but we’ve talked about parking in the past quite often.”
Mayor Gary Henke presented the committee copies of a draft parking plan that former Public Works Director Jeff Bodoh drew about 10 years ago.
The proposed design allows for 16 parking stalls, including two handicapped stalls.
Half the parking stalls would be situated perpendicular to the Lynn Tank Agency building at 221 W. North Water St. The other eight would be placed on Lincoln Court.
To accommodate the parking lot, Lincoln Court – a narrow one-way street that runs north from North Water Street to Waupaca Street – would be closed from North Water Street to the Wolf River Plaza shopping area.
Image courtesy of the city of New London
The design shows motorists would enter the parking lot from North Water Street and exit out an existing back parking lot onto Lincoln Court.
The plan was drawn when the theater building was still standing. Henke said the city scrapped earlier plans to buy the building because it could have cost roughly $170,000 to buy it, raze it and convert the land into a parking lot.
“It got up to the point where, if I remember, it was somewhere around $15,000 to $20,000 per parking spot that would have cost us,” Henke said. “And so it was just kind of like, OK, I guess we don’t want to spend that. You almost [could] build a parking ramp for that price.”
The city could alternatively make the lot a green space with trees, picnic tables or benches, Henke said.
New London Area Chamber of Commerce Executive Director April Kopitzke said business owners see customer demand for more parking.
Henke agreed, saying he struggles to find parking downtown around dinnertime.
City Administrator Kent Hager told the committee Fidelity Direct Leasing is asking for about $40,000 for the land.
Committee members opted to present a low offer to gauge how interested the company is in getting rid of the lot.
“It’s more of a nuisance to [the realtor] at this point,” Kopitzke said of the property. “She just wants to get rid of it.”
“And I think she understands someone’s probably not going to put a storefront on that piece of property,” Bishop added.
Scott Bellile photo
Second District Alderman Tom O’Connell asked where the city would find the money to buy the lot if the company accepted its offer.
Hager said the city would pull the money from somewhere within the budget.
If the city is successful in its offer, First District Alderman John Faucher suggested waiting until after the 2020 downtown reconstruction project to develop the lot.
Construction crews could have the option to stage their equipment and vehicles there, plus they would not risk damaging a newly built parking lot or green space during the workday, Faucher said.