La Crosse council says no to credit union purchase, after consenting to zoning change for housing

Any takers for the Marine Credit Union building? 

After spending a few weeks discussing a possible purchase of the office building on Monitor Street for housing purposes, the La Crosse city council has voted not to buy it.  The vote on Thursday night was a close 7-to-6. 

Council members basically reversed the actions they took in committee last week, when they recommended the purchase but opposed rezoning the property for residential use.  On Thursday night, the council said yes to rezoning, but that action was cancelled when the purchase was turned down. 

A major objection to the plan was the proposal to spend $2 million in federal ARPA grant money to buy the building, and then find a developer to take it over and remodel the interior into apartments.

Council members spoke against spending so much ARPA money on a project that might yield only 30 apartments.