Pretend you are standing in Phoenix Park while viewing this conceptual sketch
of the new JAMF Software offices. (Image: Matthew M. Long, Ayres Associates)

Plans unveiled by a software firm and a private developer could significantly reshape the ongoing North Barstow Street redevelopment.

At the Feb. 20 Eau Claire Redevelopment Authority meeting, JAMF Software unveiled a proposal for an office building it hopes to build in the Phoenix Park neighborhood. JAMF Software founder Zach Halmstad said the company is quickly outgrowing its space on Graham Avenue, but wants to stay in downtown. The company currently has 90 employees in Eau Claire and expects to grow to 125 by the end of the year and to 150-200 by the end of 2014.

JAMF Software has partnered with Commonweal Development Corp. on plans for the 65,000-square-foot building. (That’s a big step up from the 16,000 square feet they occupy now.) Unlike JAMF’s earlier proposal, which called for an office building on the corner of Wisconsin and North Barstow streets on the lot across from The Livery (officially Block 7), the new offices for the company would be on Riverfront Terrace, directly across from the Phoenix Park labyrinth. A decade ago, this space was slated for a second RCU office building, plans for which were recently officially abandoned because more RCU employees are working remotely. Under JAMF’s proposal, Block 7 would be used for parking for the time being to make up for spaces lost to JAMF’s new building. If all goes well, the building is expected to be completed by late summer of 2014.

JAMF and Commonweal are hoping to build the new office using the same agreement RCU had with the city for its second building, which would have the city do groundwork and remove contaminated soil. Along with the JAMF structure, the owners of Riverfront Terrace (the two most recent apartment buildings erected on Wisconsin Street) have also agreed to build a third apartment building at the same time.

The plan doesn’t stop there, though. Stuart Schaefer of Commonweal Development presented a long-term vision of the North Barstow area, in which Block 7 would be fully developed (the preliminary sketch shows two more apartment buildings and a mixed-use structure) and a city parking structure, which provide parking for the whole downtown, would be placed on the current post office site on North Barstow Street. The parking structure would include 480 spaces on four levels, three above ground and one below.

The long-term proposal also includes more apartments and a
multi-level parking structure (see the orange).

The completed plan does not include Galloway Street connected through to Phoenix Park because of planners’ concerns about congestion close to the park, but it does feature a walking path headed off by a “drop-off” area that would allow pedestrians to walk down to the park for the farmers market, concerts, or other events.

Halmstad said at the meeting that it was important that JAMF Software stays downtown. Many employees of the company live downtown and appreciate the events at Phoenix Park and the restaurants and bars in the downtown area. Halmstad said the software company – which makes and sells management software for Apple products such as Mac and iPads – has had good luck hiring hard working people in Eau Claire and has a strong relationship with the universities in the area. JAMF was founded in Eau Claire in 2002 by Halmstad – a North High and UW-Eau Claire graduate – and is now headquartered in Minneapolis, with remote offices around the world (including New York City, Amsterdam, and Hong Kong). Thirty-five percent of JAMF employees are UW-Eau Claire graduates.

At the meeting, the RDA decided to hold off on any major decisions until the next meeting on the plan (the RDA won’t meet again until March 20), but did remove Block 7 from the request-for-proposal process, essentially putting any other plans for the property on hold while a decision is reached.