UPDATE: Deal sets late 2016 completion date for mixed-use Confluence building

Tom Giffey |

Image: Commonweal Development
Image: Commonweal Development

The Eau Claire City Council approved an agreement Tuesday (Oct. 14) offering $5.9 million in incentives for the developers of the mixed-use portion of the Confluence Project in downtown Eau Claire. The council voted 7-4 to OK the deal as well as to create a new downtown Tax Increment Financing District, which will collect the funds that go toward the incentives.

The multi-use building (rendering above) will be one of the top-10 taxpaying properties in the city once it is finished, according to city estimates. Under the development agreement, the so-called Haymarket Landing on South Barstow Street – which will feature six stories of retail space and student-oriented apartments – will be worth at least $23.2 million and will pay a minimum of $549,000 in property taxes each year. Under the agreement, the owners have guaranteed the tax payment regardless of the building’s business performance, meaning its owners – not other taxpayers – will pay off the city’s investment in the Confluence Project, explained Dan Clumpner, one of the partners in Haymarket Concepts, which is developing the project.

The agreement stipulates that the building will be completed by the end of 2016, and that the city’s $5.9 million incentive to the developer will be broken into segments: $1 million when the development is worth at least $5 million; another $1 million when the structure is fully enclosed; $655,000 when it is worth $12 million; and $295,000 when an occupancy permit is issued. The remaining $2.95 million incentive will be paid sometime between 2019 and 2040, and then only if the money is available from the special taxing district and if the adjacent arts center is under construction.

Haymarket Landing is being developed by Haymarket Concepts, a partnership of Commonweal Development, Market & Johnson, and Blugold Real Estate, part of the UW-Eau Claire Foundation. The private development will be built alongside the proposed Confluence Arts Center, a joint project of UWEC and Eau Claire Regional Arts Council.