THINKING OF LINKING: City’s Purchase of Bank Drive-Thru Will Connect City Hall, Library
for more than 20 years, plans have called for a public plaza where former U.S. Bank branch stands
The City of Eau Claire will buy a former drive-through bank on South Farwell Street, part of a long-talked-about plan to create public property connecting City Hall and the nearby L.E. Phillips Memorial Public Library.
The Eau Claire City Council voted this week to purchase the roughly half-acre property at 131 S. Farwell St. from U.S. Bank for $450,000. According to city documents, the bank had placed the property for sale and gave the city the opportunity to make a first offer. The property is assessed at $325,000, with the cost difference reflecting rising property prices downtown, said Aaron White, the city’s economic development manager.
The one-story building, built in 1960, stands between the City Hall to the south and the recently remodeled library to the north. The stretch of Eau Claire Street between the former drive-through and the library was permanently closed to traffic as part of the library renovation, which was completed in 2022.
In the short term, the site will be used for public parking and potentially overflow space for city workers, White told the City Council.
“Longer term,” White added, “this does go on with the plan to ultimately create that green space connection between the library and City Hall.”
Such plans go back decades, and were part of the “Downtown Eau Claire Action Agenda” report created for the city by consultants at HyettPalma in 2001, said City Councilmember Jeremy Gragert. Specifically, that report called for the creation of “Town Square” in the space, which would “include a clock, a fountain, and open space for community gatherings.”
“I think it is a great idea to move forward with purchasing this piece of property, even though it does, admittedly, seem like a pretty high price,” Gragert said. “It’s just that for the purposes of the city and the public, this is the most relevant space for us to invest in to complete the library-city hall campus. So I’m excited about it.”
Fellow Councilmember Joshua Miller agreed: “Once we own this property here and can create this plaza, it will be part of the city core and heart for generations to come, and I think it’s a wise investment now.”
The City Council approved the purchase unanimously on Tuesday, May 9. The city now has the opportunity to inspect the site and 30 days to close the deal, according to city documents.
