Wausau Business Park

Located between Milwaukee, Madison and Minneapolis, Wausau is “the city of Wisconsin’s North” and serves as the transportation, economic and cultural hub of a growing consolidated metropolitan area with a population of over 308,000 people. As the city, Wausau is proud to be home to the largest hospital, largest performing arts center, and largest retail trade area in nearly 100 miles. Wausau is the safest metro area in the Midwest by FBI statistics, USA Today praised Wausau residents for the highest average credit score nationally, and Time magazine honored Wausau with the title of “middle-class paradise.” Wausau’s business success is rooted in diversity, with corporate leaders in the air handling, building materials, metal manufacturing, health care, information technology and insurance sectors. Wausau ranks No. 1 in Wisconsin and No. 3 nationally among smaller metro areas for business by Area Development, and a Top 10 “Best Bang for Buck” city by Forbes. All these superlatives underscore Wausau’s greatest asset—our outstanding and diverse workforce, which are your future employees. Wausau’s Business Campus is an integrated, full-service business park of over 1,000 acres, with two full interchanges, and home to over 5,000 employees. The city has over 200 acres of available, development-ready land and a long history of successful public-private partnerships for development.

Site Features & Contact

No significant topography issues

Roadway access

No utility easements that would prevent development

Rail access

41 contiguous acres not affected by wetlands

Commercial airport access

No known environmental impediments to immediate industrial development

Freight airport access

No known archaeological/historical impediments to immediate industrial development

41 contiguous developable acres

No known impediments to immediate development related to endangered species

American Land Trust Association (ALTA) survey

Fire insurance classification rating 2

Site not located on or adjacent to flood plain

Industrial zoning

Flight path certifications not proximate of any airport

Single owner with documented willingness to sell

Liz Brodek
Development Director, City of Wausau
407 Grant St.
Wausau, WI 54403

715.261.6685

liz.brodek@ci.wausau.wi.us
WANT TO KNOW MORE?

Community Intro

Requirement Comments

Community overview

  • General community fit for industrial activity
  • City of Wausau is a community of ~40,000 people located in Marathon County, Wisconsin, which has a population of ~135,000. Wausau is also the county seat of Monroe County.
  • Wausau is the principal city and transportation hub of northern and central Wisconsin and the gateway to Wisconsin’s Northwoods. Wausau anchors a growing combined metropolitan statistical area of over 308,000 people. The major industrial firms in the area include building materials, advanced manufacturing, healthcare, information technology and insurance.
  • Wausau is one of the state’s highest grossing areas for tourism, boasting all-season recreational opportunities that include Wisconsin’s largest ski mountain at nearby Granite Peak, one of the nation’s premiere curling facilities, outstanding mountain and snow bike trails, an internationally recognized whitewater kayaking course and is host to the Olympic-style Badger State Games.
  • Liberty Mutual, one of the largest employers (900 employees) in Wausau, specializes in insurance operations and has recently announced plans for expansion and relocation to downtown Wausau.
  • The biggest employer is Wausau is Aspirus Hospital (2,200 employees).
  • The current campus of the business park includes major employers such as Wausau Window and Wall Systems (manufacturing windows and door systems), Foot Locker (distribution center), and Linetech (architectural coatings).

Site environment overview

  • General surroundings fit for industrial activity
  • The site being proposed for certification falls within the Wausau Business Campus, which is located toward the west of Wausau city center at a distance of approximately~8.0 miles.
  • The area toward the east of the business campus comprises significant industrial presence.
  • There is sparse residential presence adjacent south to the site; Great Lakes Cheese recently purchased the site adjacent to the west and plans to build a new cheese packaging plant

Roadway access

  • Proximity to interstate and other highways providing convenient access for labor and logistics
  • Access roads in place to site, or plans in place to extend access road(s) to site
  • The site is ~1 mile north of Hwy 29 and ~5 miles west of Interstate 39. Hwy 29 is four-lane, limited access, and an interchange at County Road O provides direct access to the western boundary of the business park.

Rail access (if applicable) not required

  • Feasibility of service (if site is to be marketed as rail-served)
  • Site not currently served by rail

Commercial airport access – Access to airport(s) with commercial air service

  • Driving distance to proximate commercial airport(s) and overview of service available
  • ~20 mins to the Central Wisconsin Airport (CWA), 18 miles away directly on Hwy 29 and Interstate 39;
  • ~1 hour to the Rhinelander-Oneida County Airport (RHI), 60 miles directly on Interstate 39

Freight airport access – Access to airport(s) with freight air service

  • ~20 mins to the Central Wisconsin Airport (CWA), 18 miles away directly on Hwy 29 and Interstate 39;
  • ~1 hour to the Rhinelander-Oneida County Airport (RHI), 60 miles directly on Interstate 39

Site Intro

Requirement Comments

Master site plan and/or site plan illustrating exact dimensions and number of parcels for the specific site being submitted for certification

  • Minimum of 20 contiguous developable acres
  • The area being proposed for certification is a 41.0 acre lot on the Wausau Business Campus according to the site layout submitted by the community

Aerial photograph illustrating the specific site being submitted for certification as well as the surrounding properties

  • Aerial photo of Wausau Business Campus has been submitted, which highlights the surrounding uses

ALTA Survey (American Land Trust Association) inclusive of site being submitted for certification

Floodplain map (FEMA-produced FIRM map)

  • No part of the site may be located on (or directly adjacent to) a floodplain
  • FEMA-produced FIRM map submitted (July 2010)
  • No part of site is on or directly adjacent to a floodplain

Flight path specifications (if site is within 2 miles of an airport)

  • Documentation (letter or map from FAA) indicating any restrictions related to airport proximity
  • Not proximate (within 2 miles) of any airport; nearest airport is 18 miles away from the site

Ownership – entire site must be wholly controlled by a single owner with documented willingness to sell to an industrial user

  • Site is wholly owned by the City of Wausau
  • The City of Wausau purchased all 205 acres of the proposed Wausau Business Campus from one farmer

Asking price – current asking price for sale or lease of the land must be indicated

  • Documentation of asking price on a per-acre basis
  • An asking price of $12,500/acre has been quoted by the city and documented on the city website

Topography – no significant topography issues that could present major obstacles to industrial development of the site

  • Topographic map with clearly defined contour intervals of 2’ or less
  • Current topographic map of the Wausau Business Campus has been provided
  • Topographic map indicates substantial topography with high point (1,390’) on the southwest and low point (1,300’) on northeast, resulting in an elevation change of approximately 90 feet across the 40-acre site. The elevation change across the central core area of the site is approximately 55 to 60 feet.

Easements – site not intersected by utility or any other easement that would prevent development of 20 contiguous acres of the site

  • Maps of all utility infrastructure directly proximate to (or intersecting) the site
  • ALTA/NSPS Land Title Survey provided dated November 15, 2017
  • A utility easement currently runs on the southeastern boundary of the site

Wetlands – demonstrate that a user can utilize 20 contiguous acres that are not affected by wetlands

  • Wetlands delineation study was conducted (December 2016) by Wetlands and Waterways, LLC and provided during the field investigations
  • Most recent wetlands determination highlights two small wetlands on the northwestern and northeastern boundaries of the 40-acre site

Environmental assessment – no known environmental impediments to immediate industrial development

  • Phase I within the past 2 years; Remediated sites provide completed. Phase II and documentation of liability protection
  • Phase I ESA study was conducted (June 2017) by Becher-Hoppe Associates Inc. and provided during the field investigations
  • No potential RECs (recognized environmental conditions) were identified as part of the study

Geotechnical

  • Minimum of 5 soil borings (for 20-acre site); no presence of sink holes or limestone caves; suitable water content/water table depth
  • A geotechnical study was conducted (January 2017) by American Engineering Testing, Inc. and provided during the field investigations, which carried out 20 test-pits over 205 acres on the subject property. Test pits on the site being submitted for certification encountered weathered bedrock at an average of 7 to 10 feet (TP-11 to TP-17)
  • Four soil borings were conducted in October 2017 on the site submitted for certification; weathered bedrock encountered at 2 feet below the ground surface on boring B-89 and at 9.5 feet for borings B-87 and B-90. Boring log for B-89 illustrates auger refusal at 2.6 feet; a boring was attempted 6 feet north of B-89 and auger refusal was encountered there at 2.0 feet.
  • The site’s bedrock profile appears to be very irregular with very shallow bedrock encountered within the central core area of the site.

Archaeological/Historical

  • No known archaeological/historical impediments to immediate industrial development

Endangered species

  • No known impediments to immediate industrial development related to endangered species

Fire protection

  • Fire Insurance Classification Rating
  • Distance to the nearest servicing fire department
  • The site is about 4.5 miles from the City of Wausau Fire Department
  • The Fire ISO rating is 2

Zoning

Requirement Comments

Industrial zoning (or equivalent) currently in place, or zoning change procedure underway as of field investigation

  • Zoning certificate and relevant ordinance; or, letter from municipal authorities communicating status of zoning change procedure as of field investigation date
  • Site is zoned IP (Industrial Park) District. The IP zoning has permitted uses such as warehouse/distribution centers, light manufacturing, laboratory testing, carpet and boot manufacturing and similar uses.

Surrounding area zoning – zoning of surrounding properties compatible with industrial development of site

  • Comprehensive Plan of area (if applicable)
  • Zoning map of area including site (if applicable)
  • Existing/planned zoning of surrounding land
  • Codes, Covenants, and Restrictions on site and surrounding sites, as applicable
  • A comprehensive zoning map of the area and surrounding uses was produced by the city.
  • There is a medical waste transmission plant and a composite manufacturer surrounding the site.
  • There is a proposed cheese packaging operation (Great Lakes Cheese Company) that will be constructed adjacent west to the certified site, which is intended to start operations in 2019.

Electric & Gas Utility Infrastructure

Requirement Comments

Proximate electric power infrastructure availability and capacities

  • Utility maps indicating location and current size/capacity of proximate transmission lines, distribution lines, and substations; available capacity that could be provided to the site for each of the above
  • The site is currently served from the Sunnyvale substation (115kV – 24.9kV) located at a distance ~2.5 miles from the site by a 24.9 kV distribution line.
  • The Sunnyvale substation is fed by a 115 kV transmission line which runs along Hwy 29 to the south of Highland Drive; the Sunnyvale substation is currently equipped with 1 26MVA transformer with an available capacity of about ~10MW.
  • The backup substation for delivering service to the site is the Castle substation in the village of Marathon City located at a distance of about 5.5 miles and the closet generation station (Weston Power Plant – Coal Plant) ~10 miles from the site.
  • Utility map

Detailed description of dual feed potential (current or proposed redundant service)

  • Overview (and map) illustrating dual feed electric service routes, including location, size and capacity of each node of delivery (substation, distribution line, etc.)
  • There is potential to provide dual feed service to the site from the Sunnyvale substation as it is designed for dual feed to accommodate another transformer.

Introduction of any proposed improvements to/extensions of electric service to the site

  • Cost, timing and funding responsibility of any improvements required to provide proposed service to the site
  • The proposed solution to provide service to the site is a distribution line extension from the Sunnyvale substation, which can currently serve up to 10 MW of load for an end user on the site.
  • The proposed timeline for the extension of the distribution line is estimated at 12 months. If greater capacity is required at the site, the estimated timeline is about 24 months for an additional transformer at the Sunnyvale substation

Proximate natural gas infrastructure availability and capacities

  • Utility maps indicating location and current size/capacity of proximate transmission lines, distribution lines, delivery points, etc; Available capacity that could be provided to the site for each of the above
  • The natural gas provider is Wisconsin Public Service (WPS) and the current infrastructure includes a six-inch plastic line along Highland Drive and a 4-inch line planned to be completed this year to serve the Great Lakes Cheese operation on the business campus and the regulator station is along Highland Drive

Introduction of any proposed improvements to/extensions of natural gas service to the site

  • Cost, timing and funding responsibility of any improvements required to provide proposed service to the site
  • The proposed solution to serve the site would be a tap off the proposed 4-inch line at 40 psi and will provide 28-29 psi when extended to the site

Proximate water and wastewater infrastructure availability and capacities

  • Water: City of Wausau is currently bidding out construction of a 12-inch water line to run along the southeast boundary of the site, which will enable service at 60-80psi, which is part of a city water supply of six wells, seven booster stations, and five tanks.
  • Wastewater: City of Wausau is currently bidding out construction of a 12-inch gravity line on the southeast corner on the property, which will run to an existing gravity line on 84th Avenue that proceeds to the lift station on 72nd Avenue and Stewart Street. The wastewater treatment plant currently has an available capacity of approximately 2.7MGPD.

Introduction of any proposed improvements to/extensions of water and/or wastewater service to the site

  • Water: The proposed solution to serve the site will be a tap off the 12-inch line to the end user on the site at 60-80 psi. A new 200,000-gallon water tower proposed adjacent southwest of the site will provide 3,000 GPM fire suppression for one hour
  • Wastewater: The proposed solution to serve the site will be a tap off the existing 12-inch line to the end user on the site. The upgrade designs of the lift station have been completed and will be out to bid soon.