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OUR VIEWSRemoving brownfields is another step toward downtown renaissanceAs Friday’s Gazette would suggest, doing business in downtown .Janesville can be hitand miss.Opening soon will be the Whiskey Ranch liar and drill at 24 N. Main St. Two brothers,whose family operates bars and restaurants insouth central Wisconsin, will mix barbeque flavors and liquor with a rustic, Americana-themed decor and Southern rock and country music. They suggest Janesville lacks thisblend.On the same block, the Little lie an coffee shop at 101 L. Milwaukee St., which opened in I )clt;-ember, will close Monday due to lack of “traffic now.”These opposite stories illustrate the challenge of doing business downtown. It takes the right business and marketing plan with the right prices and much luck. Some survive and thrive. Others fail.Many residents and visitors will flock downtown this weekend to enjoy the bars and restaurants, the music and revelry ofJanesville’s secondTJoit i'. among communities Irish Lest. Busi-that have used federal grants n('sslt;‘s the.. . j,. event creates vear-arid loans to clear brownfields r()Un(i customersMany Janesville residents While downtown, look around.The infrastructure and attractionshappen here should look muchdifferent in a few years. Gone will be that unsightly,half closed parking pi a/a over the Rock River, in its place, a pedestrian bridge might span a river more accessible to users. Likely gone, too, will bo the former Plaza Furniture store near that parking deck. In its place might be a town square of green space. Rebuilt will be that Mil waukee Street bridge, where barriers keep pedestnans and motorists away from a railing damaged in a 2012 accident. Speaking of pedestrians, a riverwalk is part of downtown’s renaissance plan.People will pour into the Janesville Performing Arts Center at 408 S. Main St. for concerts Saturday and Sunday by the popular Celtic band (iaelic Storm. Those folks should envision the outdoor amphitheater that Forward foundation hopes to build between JPAC and Hedberg Public Library. If forward Janesville’s charitable arm can raise the money, the Janesville Riverfront Amphitheater could Income a focal point of future Irish Fests.Many people have ideas for other developments. Standing in the way of some projects, however, are brownfields sites with underground contaminants left by former gas station? other businesses and industries. The cityhas identified bO sites within two large tracts. State law often requires cleanup before ow ners or developers can secure loans.Developers with bold dreams should beheartened, then, by a $700,000 revolving loan fund the city got from the U.S. Lnvironmental Protection Agency to clean up brownfields.( i it ics w ill label this and a smaller revolving loan fund for small businesses and downtownimprovements as “corporate welfare. ()thers balk at investing tax dollars in a downtownthey consider dead.In recent years, however, many people whobelieve otherwise have invested heavily. Thew ■Armor, dinner theater, Sara Investment’s re-tored office building Prospect 101 and (VKiley k ( onwav s 11 ish Pub are three examples.Beloit is among communities that have usedfederal grants and loans to clear brownfields. Many Janesville residents envy downtown Beloit's revival and wonder why it can’t happen here.Removing brown fields could be a catalyst to making it happen. No, $700,000 won’t spread far. The money, however, is another buildingblock to the foundation of Janesville’s down town redevelopment.
Newspaper Details
Janesville Gazette
Janesville, Wisconsin, US
Sat, Oct 04, 2014
Page 4
Full Page
Clipped by
Hedberg P.
Wisconsin, USA 13 Aug 2022
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