Parks offices to move to UWSP-Wausau

The city and county parks offices will be moving to the UWSP-Wausau campus later this year. 

Parks Director Jamie Polley says the department will be moving into the first floor of the UWSP-Wausau campus. That move will happen at either the end of March or early April, Polley says. 

That’s part of a plan the county has to reduce its building footprint. Other offices will be moving to Lake View Drive, so the county will be completely vacating the building which could then be redeveloped. 

UWSP leaders late last year spoke to a county committee about plans to start leasing out space in the UWSP-Wausau campus in the face of declining enrollments and building use. The campus at the time was only using 21% of its space, meaning much more than 3/4 of the building was going unoccupied. At the time, UWSP leaders said a task force recommended other educational uses for the building. 

A consultant prior to the COVID-19 pandemic drew up potential development plans for that site, which included an expanded farmers market structure and possible housing. How much of that plan will ultimately be followed is yet to be determined.