Special Section

Living It Up Downtown

Downtown Eau Claire Inc.’s annual Urban Living Tour showcases the coolest central-city dwellings

V1 Staff, photos by Andrea Paulseth |

Above and below: previous showcase apartments.
Above and below: previous showcase apartments.

With new buildings popping up in the North Barstow neighborhood and more downtown lofts being renovated every year, there are always new things to see. Luckily, whether you live downtown, want to live downtown, or are just curious about the spaces, Downtown Eau Claire Inc.’s Urban Living Committee hosts an Urban Living Tour annually during which you can pop into some of the many apartments downtown.

Every June the committee organizes a tour of a handful of loft and apartment-style dwellings, fully decorated and livable. The apartments range from new construction on North Barstow to renovated, historic lofts above South Barstow businesses in downtown Eau Claire. As the DECI website states, “The Urban Living Committee’s main goal is to unite property owners, builders, and interior designers to foster the renovation of upper floors downtown into stylish urban lofts and encourage people to live downtown, provide accessible information for potential tenants, and promote creation of new apartments in the downtown area.”

Not only does bringing more tenants downtown connect residents with these awesome apartments, it increases the vitality of our central city, making it more lively and active, not to mention more lucrative for downtown businesses (which is better for everyone in town).

This year’s tour is slated for Saturday, June 13, so mark your calendars now. DECI is always looking for potential sponsors, designers, and owners interested in showcasing their properties, so contact downtown@eauclairewi.gov for more information. You can find more info on the Urban Living Tour and living downtown in general at DowntownEauClaire.com.