La Crosse in the midst of a development boom

City council president credits city sparking the growth.

La Crosse might just be at the start of a building boom.

La Crosse city council president Dick Swantz believes there are so many big development projects in the pipeline right now, it’s hard to keep track of them all.

Some of that, he says, was sparked by big investments, especially in the downtown.

“The main thing is, you gotta start somewhere,” Swantz said. “You have to have a stimulus to get it going. And, I think, to some degree, downtown, that was Lot C.”

Don Weber’s Belle Square development, says Swantz, has the potential to generate a construction surge like the city has never seen.  

“Most of us understand that if you can get a certain level of development started, there’s a ripple effect,” Swantz said. “What happens is developers see that, maybe it is worthwhile.”

Worthwhile, like the troubled south side Powell-Poage-Hamilton neighborhood, that Swantz credits to city hall for new development being proposed there.

“Most of the development down there was, in one way or another, the city was engaged in stimulating that,” Swantz said. “But now, we have private developers who are essentially saying they’d like to get involved and build homes down there.”

The downside of it all, Swantz explained, is that because of complex borrowing deals,  many of the new developments will still be years away from helping to lower property taxes in the city overall.