Council approves Veit to demolish Main Street buildings

The Shawano Common Council approved hiring Veit Demolition to demolish the buildings that occupy 214-216 S. Main St. at its June 9 meeting and found out more details about the downtown plaza that will occupy the space and other areas.

Veit — which is based in Rogers, Minnesota, but has a Wisconsin office in New Berlin — was the lowest bidder at $139,000, which was above the $100,000 budgeted for demolition work. However, the six bids ranged up to $468,000.

Having six bids for the plaza project was impressive, but originally, 15-20 contractors participated in the walkthroughs on what was going to be required for the demolition work, according to City Administrator Eddie Sheppard.

“It was eye-opening for me when we did the walkthroughs with all the contractor groups,” Sheppard said. “By the time I let them in to start walking all around, 10 of them didn’t go in and five of them walked away because the challenge of this is that it’s an unstable building.”

Because the building is unstable, the contractor will have to be very careful about taking things out of it, Sheppard said.

Veit has the reputation for handling large demolition projects, according to Sheppard, who noted the company was the one that took down the Bradley Center in Milwaukee.

“It’s a little more than we hoped for, but it’s good knowing the company has all the resources to do this,” Sheppard said. “It’s not just some startup that’s going to give it their best.”

Sheppard said that the design of the project will make the plaza as maintenance-free as possible, as city departments, especially parks and recreation, already have a lot on their plates. However, public works and parks and recreation will jointly oversee any work that needs to be done after the plaza is built, he said.

“We do not intend to have additional staff to maintain this space,” Sheppard said. “That’s something we’ve been very conscious of during this design.”

According to Brandon Herbert with Strand Associates, local resident Starlyn Tourtillott helped the consulting firm get in touch with both the Menominee and Stockbridge-Munsee tribes to get input on the honorarium, which will pay tribute to the area Native Americans who once inhabited much of northeast Wisconsin. Strand has been working with Joey Awonohopay and Heather Bruegl, who oversee cultural issues for the Menominee and Stockbridge-Munsee, respectively, and they have helped to shape what the honorarium will have.

“We had some nice discussions about what was important for their cultures in this space or perhaps scattered throughout the plaza,” Herbert said.

Among the discussion was specific trees geared toward each clan of the Menominee, as well as the Many Trails symbol that is an important part of the Stockbridge-Munsee. There was also some discussion of using wild rice as a pattern on some of the wall decorations, Herbert said.

Sheppard said he felt the plaza was going to do right by Shawano’s Native American neighbors.

“There was a lot of discussion about incorporating some of the significant cultural things that they want to see,” Sheppard said. “I’m glad we had those conversations.”

Herbert asked for suggestions about what to do with the bumpouts, which will replace current parking spaces in the area and make it easier for pedestrians to cross Main Street.

Alderman Kevin Barkow suggested adding a symbol of a wolf near the riverwalk so that it would symbolize the Wolf River.

“There’s nothing really there showing that’s supposed to be the Wolf River,” Barkow said. “You could kind of assume that’s what it is, but that’d be kind of cool to have the bumpout have some image of a wolf. It’ll give it more of an eye appeal.”

Alderwoman Rhonda Strebel urged that the bumpouts have a flat surface to make it easier for people with disabilities and others to navigate the area.

“I want it to be decorative, but I want it to be flat so that people with strollers and walkers are not having a struggle trying to get across the sidewalk,” Strebel said. “Many years ago, when we revitalized Shawano — and you see remnants of it around town, the brickish look on Main and Green Bay streets — people with disabilities could not get across. They’d trip and stumble, and people who are blind cannot navigate through it.”

Herbert also recommended council members take the time to think of a name for the plaza. He noted there is an existing blade sign that could be used to display the plaza’s name.

Strand Associates will be coming back with the plaza 60% drawn in July for another review by the council, and 90% of the drawings are expected to be complete for the council’s August meeting. The city is hoping to approve a contractor to build the plaza in mid-September and would like to break ground in October. If that happens, the plaza could be open for visitors in summer 2022.

If the city is not able to start construction work in 2021 and must wait until 2022, the plaza is expected to open in fall that year.

lpulaski@newmedia-wi.com