A big check from Market & Johnson –  at the Haymarket Landing site on March 30. Image: Community for the Confluence

The pot of money pledged to the Confluence Project just grew by a cool quarter million thanks to Market & Johnson. The Eau Claire-based construction company announced March 30 that it will donate $250,000 toward the performing arts center that will be built in downtown Eau Claire as part of the multiuse, multibuilding complex at the confluence of the Eau Claire and Chippewa rivers. “Market & Johnson has been a proud and an actively engaged partner in the Confluence Project since the project’s inception,” said Jerry Shea, president of the company. “We consider this contribution to be an investment in our community. The performing arts center will do much toward making Eau Claire a destination place in our region.” Donors have pledged more than $7 million toward the $13.5 million local philanthropy goal for the arts center. In addition, $15 million for the arts center was included in Gov. Scott Walker’s version of the state budget, which awaits legislative approval. The $40 million arts center is slated to open in the fall of 2018. A privately built component of the project, dubbed Haymarket Landing, is already under construction. Market & Johnson is the construction manager for Haymarket Landing.