City council narrowly approves multi-million-dollar parking ramp

City may need to raise taxes to cover costs

The final price for the new parking ramp in downtown La Crosse hasn’t exactly been set. 

But the new 600-stall ramp will be around $17 million, the second-highest priced option the city council had to choose from for the project. The other two projects cost around $19 million and $16 million.

The city has a little under $15.5 million that it can borrow for the project, so the rest will have to be made up through spending from the city’s reserves or by raising taxes.

Developer Don Weber will build the five-floor ramp, then turn it over to the city. The project will be bid out like a regular public project, giving local contractors an opportunity to submit competitive bids, so the final price could wind up lower.

Weber’s Third and Pine LLC, will pay $1.5 million for former Collins Outdoor Advertising at 325 N. Third Street, and construction for the ramp should begin by spring.

The city council narrowly approved the ramp after long deliberations at a meeting Thursday.