Mar. 16, 2025 9:45
(WGTD)---Proposed redevelopment projects emanating from downtown Racine's Verdant boutique hotel and restaurant are among projects up for consideration at Tuesday night's Racine City Council meeting.
Dominion--the Milwaukee-based company that created the Verdant out of a vacant, Monument Square department store--is proposing four separate projects.
One project would extend the Verdant to the south to create a full-service luxury spa complete with pools, a steam room, sauna and treatment rooms. An operator has already been signed, according to city documents. Memberships would be sold and hotel guests would be eligible for the services.
Another project calls for the demolition of a large four-story building to the north of the Verdant to make way for a gated and highly-landscaped parking lot. In the long term, Dominion envisions an apartment building there.
The company already is in the process of rehabbing a smaller building on the corner on the block immediately north of the Verdant. Four upper-floor apartments are being created. A behavioral therapist has already signed a contract to move into a commercial space on the first floor.
What city officials are most interested in is the construction of a four-story, 40-unit building overlooking the Root River. The lot, now used for hotel parking, is mostly vacant and is located northwest of the Verdant.
Dominion already appears to own most if not all of the parcels up for redevelopment, according to city records.
At Tuesday night's Council meeting, alders will be asked to approve a development agreement that includes a $9.7 million loan to Dominion. The principal would be forgiven if the apartment building goes up within five years. The city is prepared to transfer $5.7 million from the Johnson building tax incremental financing district and borrow $4 million from the state Board of Commissioners of Public Lands. The council's Finance and Personnel Committee unanimously approved the development agreement last week.
Other projects up for review Tuesday night include the construction of 33 town homes in the area of the new Lincoln-King Health Center and five, three-story apartment buildings as part of the Regency Mall redevelopment project. The buildings would total 266 units. Regency developers included housing in their original plans.
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