Stakes mark footprint of La Crosse Center expansion into Riverside Park, center board member approves

The swath of Riverside Park over which a renovated La Crosse Center will extend is anything but slight.

The stakes put in the ground at the park by architects this week tell that story.

WIZM walked off a section of grass bounded by the flagged stakes that appears to be around 200,000 square feet.

Jessica Olson represents the city council on the Center Board and she likes what she sees.

“It’s not interrupting the flow of pedestrian walkway next to the river,” she said. “The views of the river and the bridge … you can still see it from the remainder of the park behind the structures.”

Olson also points out the Center renovations can’t be be small if there’s going to be room for the expansion they’re after.

“When you spend $50 million you better be able to see what you spent the money on,” she said. “It is a project that is generational as this will bring the Center to the next level of operations for the next 50 years.”

The way the stakes were set on Tuesday, the balcony of the Center expansion would extend nearly to the Mississippi River.

“Not just the money or the square footage,” Olson said, “but what we do artistically with that balcony will make or break this.”

While WIZM was told final designs for the Center expansion have not been worked out, the stakes mark the first public physical manifestation of what will be a $49 million expansion.