A 2018 rendering of a proposed mixed-use public transit transfer center in downtown Eau Claire.
(Source: City of Eau Claire)

The City of Eau Claire will continue to negotiate with a private developer over the construction of a downtown building intended to house a city bus transfer center and three stories of residential housing. The Eau Claire City Council voted unanimously on June 23 to extend a memorandum of understanding with the Cedar Falls, Iowa-based developer, MERGE, LLC.

According to City Attorney Stephen Nick, the agreement allows the city and the developer more time to design the building and also establishes how the design work will be funded: MERGE will pay $150,000 while the city will foot the bill for the remaining $299,000. If designs are completed by the end of the year, construction could begin in spring 2021, Nick said.

In 2018, the city received a $5 million federal transportation grant to help pay for the public-private project – the total cost of which has been estimated to exceed $20 million. The structure would be built on the 400 block of South Farwell Street, the current site of the city’s bus transfer center – a small, concrete-block building that was meant to be temporary when it was built in the 1980s.