Gundersen gets approval to demolish residential block for parking

Health giant displaced workers putting hotel in existing lot

Gundersen Health System seems to have convinced enough La Crosse city council members to allow a new parking lot.

Gundersen hopes to tear down homes on a city block between Tyler-Denton streets and Eighth-Ninth streets.

The medical system wants to use the space for a 175-space parking lot to make up for the spaces it will lose through construction of a new hotel its building on campus.

Neighborhood activists had pushed against a demolition permit, insisting surface parking would only lower already beleaguered property values.  

On Tuesday, however, a city council committee agreed to the demolition with just a few conditions.

The planning department had originally recommended against the plan, saying it falls outside longstanding comprehensive plans for the neighborhood.

The full council votes on the demolition permit next week.