ROTHSCHILD, WI (WSAU) — The Village of Rothschild has some big ambitions for one of its busiest streets in the next five years, and it all begins with one coffee shop later this year.
Village Administrator Gary Olsen says they’ve finalized plans to bring a Starbucks to the corner of Grand Avenue and Kort Street. He says it will be the first Starbucks location in the village, and could also help spawn more development between now and 2025.
“There will be some remodeling of the existing building that’s there on that corner, and then a new building will be [put up] closer to the road right there for the Starbucks,” said Olsen.
The village recently changed the zoning for the area to allow for smaller density structures in the area. He says that helped them secure the Starbucks location, and could also help them lure other developments as they work towards re-shaping the area in conjunction with planned road construction for Business 51 in the next five years.
“It is dated a little bit. Adding a Starbucks and doing some street-scaping and different things will help. I’ve also been talking to different developers to see what they would be interested in.”
He adds that could include some mixed-use developments that feature retail space on the first floor with residential spaces above, both in that area and elsewhere in the village. “I actually have a developer that I’m working with right now to possibly do some development in the Cedar Creek area. With that, it would probably be mixed use.”
Olsen wouldn’t go into further detail about those plans or say what developer he’s working with, but he did say those discussions have been going on for more than six months and some information could be brought to the Village Board of Trustees in the near future.
Olsen didn’t have a specific timeline of when construction on the Starbucks would be completed and when the java would be flowing at the location.
Other topics Olsen discussed with WSAU’s Mike Leischner include:
Start of video- How the village is keeping up with the current COVID-19 outbreak and how it has impacted things like the Rothschild Pavilion
4:30- Decision to leave the Wausau CVB in the middle of their latest contract
9:20- How the village hooked its first Starbucks location
14:00- Ongoing village street projects and outdoor trail projects
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