City to find out in July if La Crosse Center gets $5 million from state

Gov. Scott Walker announced in Feb. city
would get money as part of $40 million renovation.

By next month, the city of La Crosse should know whether or not the La Crosse Center will have an extra $5 million to spend on renovations.

What could make the remodel project around $40 million is based on “whether the legislature, the governor, has passed the $5 million state appropriation,” La Crosse Center board president Brent Smith said.

Wisconsin Gov. Scott Walker came to La Crosse back in February to announce the Center would be getting a $5-million grant from the state. Walker said the money would help make the Center a “world class venue.”

The city initially wanted $12 million from the state. 

Around the same time the city finds out of the $5 million is approved, the ISG-Gensler planners will come up with some estimates of how much each project within the Center could cost.

So far, the only thing that seems to have been brought to the design stage is a second ballroom – one that overlooks Riverside Park and the Mississippi River. Smith says the need for more ballroom space is justified.

“There was a lot of interest in a bigger ballroom than we currently have that could potentially be split up, assuming you had 2-3 events at one time that wanted to use a ballroom looking out towards the river,” Smith said. “Would we be able to do that?”

Designers expect to return in July with more specifics.