Downtown Waupaca building improvements
By Angie Landsverk
The city of Waupaca’s Community Development Authority approved grants totaling almost $140,000 for projects in the downtown area when it met last week.
It approved nine grant applications on April 19.
“Ultimately, we’d like to see most of the buildings in the downtown take advantage of it,” Mayor Brian Smith said of the program.
The city’s new Downtown Business Incentive Program includes grants of up to $15,000 for facade improvements and up to $25,000 for building repairs.
The 50% matching grants are awarded after projects are completed.
Funding generated by the city’s Tax Incremental District No. 4 (Western Avenue) is being transferred to TID 10 (Badger Street) for the program.
The boundary of TID 10 was amended by a half-mile radius last year to include the downtown area.
Funding of $500,000 is proposed during this first year of the program.
Community Development Authority grants
• $7,997 to Eric Vestergaard. He owns Sulten Belly at 220 S. Main St., and is using the grant to make the back entrance ADA accessible.
He is investing $7,998 in the project.
Customers will use that entrance when Main Street is under reconstruction in front of his restaurant this summer into the fall.
Vestergaard also told the CDA of his plans to redo the back patio area to increase the seating capacity there and make it a community atmosphere.
• $15,000 to Kevin Baker, owner of 204 to 208 S. Main St., which includes Synergy Home Care and Evans Title.
The grant is being used for new windows, signage and paint.
Baker said they want to bring the windows back to about what they originally were.
The owner is investing $20,628 in the project.
• $10,822 to Mike and Kerri Thiel for his CPA business at 114 E. Union St.
The grant is for a new roof on the building, with the Thiels investing $10,823 in the project.
Kerri told the CDA they “appreciate the ability to request grant funds for something not glamorous but needed.”
They are also replacing an HVAC unit on the building’s roof.
• $25,000 to Kirt Johnson, who owns the building at 112 S. Main St.
He is putting a new roof on the building and replacing the skylights in the apartments on the second level.
The businesses on the street level include Sew ‘n Sew, an attorney’s office and a gaming store.
Andrew Dane, the city’s economic development specialist, said Johnson is preserving and enhancing some of the downtown residential units.
Johnson is investing $40,391 in the project and told the CDA he may be back next year to do another project.
• $10,135 to Tim Lencki, who owns Adventure Outfitters at 106 S. Main St.
The grant is to replace the back part of the building’s roof, with Lencki investing the same amount as the grant.
He told the CDA he has been in the building about nine years and has been doing patchwork the last four to five years.
A personal trainer rents the second floor of the building.
Lencki is also planning HVAC improvements.
• $14,613 to Kent Pegorsch for a new boiler and HVAC units for 103 N. Main St., where he and his wife Bernadette own Main Street Marketplace.
They are investing $14,6
13 in the project as well.
Pegorsch told the CDA he is also getting quotes for a new awning and signage, which would be a facade project.
• $8,271 to Pegorsch for new HVAC at 104 N. Main St., which he also owns.
There is a CBD store on the street level and three offices on the upper level, including a photographer.
Pegorsch said the photography studio occupies two of the offices.
He wants to make the heating and cooling more efficient and consistent for his tenants and is investing $8,271 in the project as well.
• $8,000 to Vicky Brown who is opening Three Angels Dessert Shop at 114 N. Main St.
The grant of up to $8,000 is for electric, plumbing and an awning.
Brown is investing the same amount in the project.
Dane said this is an exciting grant because it is a new business and returns the space to a restaurant like it once was.
Brown told the CDA she wants to have her grand opening when North Main Street opens, which is slated for sometime in July.
• $40,000 to Rick Seater, who owns the vacant building at 205 N. Main St.
The amount includes a $25,000 Building Repair Grant and a $15,000 Facade Improvement Grant.
Seater is investing $160,000 in the building.
“I’m going to fix the bottom and put two Airbnb apartments upstairs,” he said.
The grant is for new windows, brick, plumbing and electrical.
A union bricklayer by trade, Seater will be doing the masonry and carpentry work.
He told the CDA multiple people have called him regarding the storefront space.
“It looks like an awesome project,” City Administrator Aaron Jenson said.
The private investment in the nine projects totals $280,859.