New, $17-million downtown parking ramp with retail project begins

Ramp and Belle Square, across road, both owned by Don Weber

A little later than planned, but space is getting cleared for a new parking ramp in downtown La Crosse.

The new 600-stall ramp will be built on Third St., right across from the La Crosse County courthouse.

Wrecking crews are clearing the site that, until recently, housed Fairway Outdoor Advertising. The rubble is what was originally Collins Outdoor Advertising, started in 1946 by Charlie Collins.

Now, it will be $17-million and six-floors worth of parking, retail space and another addition to the city’s growing skyline, sitting on the opposite corner of another big development Belle Square, which has begun renting apartments on what was just recently a parking lot.  

Both projects, part of developer Don Weber’s growing footprint in the city.