“Your aspirations are your possibilities.” — Dr. Samuel Johnson
The Shawano Medical Center reuse task force met this week. Members who recently toured the facility were impressed with the overall condition of the building. They were surprised to learn it is larger in square footage than the local Walmart.
The main entrance, which includes the atrium, waiting area, offices and public restrooms, was built in 2007. The Riverside Clinic, also built in 2007, consists of 30 exam rooms and 14 offices. It is separated from the rest of the building by a corridor.
Also on the first floor are three operating rooms and 17 preparation rooms, the Riverside Café and dining room, a laboratory, the emergency area with triage, 14 exam rooms, two trauma rooms, 10 offices and an ambulance garage. Housekeeping, medical records, physicians’ lounge, radiology with 11 exam rooms, three offices, the boiler room and maintenance shop are also on the first floor.
The second floor consists of 40 patient/recovery rooms, five ICU rooms, the nursery, staff workspace and a staff lounge. The third floor consists of administrative offices, training, two conference rooms, a pharmacy and two unoccupied mechanical areas.
Vandewalle and Associates provided the task force with a building and site analysis along with a general market review.
From their analysis of the building and the site’s assets, market analysis, and meetings with community members, Vandewalle presented several options for initial consideration for reuse. Since the site is so large, many of these uses could occur on different parts of the site.
Here are their recommendations for consideration:
• Community Center/Wellness or Conference Facilities/Catering Kitchen — The existing building has new conferencing and kitchen facilities of 23,000 square feet that was newly built in 2007. These facilities could be used as a community center with youth programming or available for rent for conferences, weddings, or events in conjunction with the kitchen available for catering use.
• Reuse of Portion of Building for Renovated Housing — Some of the existing hospital room structure could be renovated for multi-family housing facilities on the site for senior housing or “aging in place” facilities. The three-story structure around the building’s historic core could be converted from patient rooms and offices to bedrooms or apartments.
• New multi-family senior housing: The large site, adjacent parking areas and homes owned by Shawano Medical Center could be redeveloped as multi-family housing developments. With a growing sector of aging residents, new housing options such as condos, shared housing, or aging-in-place facilities could be viable for a portion of the site.
• Food business incubator and community kitchen: The commercial grade kitchen could be retained and utilized for food business incubation projects. A food-oriented nonprofit, economic development agency or local University of Wisconsin-Extension office could operate a food incubator on the site to provide residents with economic opportunities to develop a food product for sale at farmers markets, grocery stores or a specialty food retail outlet located on site.
• Themed riverfront restaurant and lodge: The city of Shawano does not currently have a riverfront dining destination. Riverfront dining was mentioned by several community members when interviewed by Vandewalle as a desirable community asset. With the widespread popularity of outdoor activities in the area, an Up North or Wolf River-themed restaurant and lodge could be a tourist destination because of its unique river views and good highway access. There is an opportunity to capture hotel stays in Shawano, and a destination lodge could attract visitors.
Vandewalle will draw up a concept plan for a conference center, housing options and community food incubator space. A poll will be conducted to determine how many of our larger businesses would utilize a conference center or guest lodging. The DNR will be contacted regarding regulations for a docking area and existing waterfront restrictions.
The next task force meeting date has been scheduled for 6:30 p.m. Sept. 16 at City Hall. Public comment will be welcomed.
August has been a busy month for issuing building permits.
• A permit was issued for 1063 E. Green Bay Street (former Kwik Trip) for a build out/renovate for Papa Murphy’s. The estimated project cost is $98,000.
• A permit was issued for Buss Chevrolet located at 1255 E. Green Bay St. for a building addition/remodel. The estimated project cost is $684,000.
• A permit was issued to ThedaCare Inc., 100 County Road B, for site-work only (Phase CP-1). The estimated cost is $200,000.
There were also permits issued for several home remodeling projects and AC replacements. It is wonderful to have so many building/remodeling projects taking place in the city.
The answer to last week’s trivia question — Who owned the Club Continental in 1959? — is Roy J. Kenney .
This week’s question is: Who were the co-owners of the Staff of Life in 1989?
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