City brainstorming ideas on what goes beneath La Crosse Center expansion

It appears pretty certain there will be a La Crosse Center expansion into Riverside Park.

The Park Board agreed to the arrangement this week — final approval is still pending.

The approved overhang would cover several thousand square feet of what is now grass in the park.

As for underneath the expansion, La Crosse Center Board president Brent Smith says that’s still in the idea phase.

“There’s a variety of ideas that other communities have done, I.e. playground equipment or some kind of stage for performances,” Smith said on WIZM Thursday morning. “There’s a whole list of things you can do underneath that, to make use of it and bring people to the park.”

The park board approved the overhang as a concept, but will have to agree on final designs.

The roughly $49 million expansion would take up about a half acre of the 20-acre park and hover 27 feet overhead.

More pictures of the new La Crosse Center expansion designs can be seen here.