The Peace United Church of Christ building has sat vacant for almost a year, but there are plans in the works to bring it back to life for a different purpose.
The Shawano Plan Commission learned Sept. 30 that there’s interest in turning the building, located at 208 E. Maurer St., into an event and entertainment venue. The building has been up for sale after the Peace congregation merged with the First Presbyterian Church to form Fellowship Church of Shawano at the Presbyterian building at 100 W. Presbyterian St.
The current zoning for Peace is single-family residential, which allows for churches, according to City Zoning Administrator Dave Moesch. However, in order to permit the building to be used for events, it will require rezoning.
“There is light industrial adjacent to the building, so it’s not plopped in the middle of a residential area,” Moesch said. “There are other zoning districts present and adjacent to this property.”
Moesch noted there have been other proposals for the building, including brief consideration as the new public library in Shawano, but nothing has panned out until now. He said there was concern by the city that the building could sit empty for years, but the proposal could help to stave off that fate.
Alex White, manager for Brothers Pub in the Town of Wescott, told the commission there was a need for a larger event facility in the city of Shawano, noting that many events have to go outside the area to hold events. For example, the Shawano Country Chamber of Commerce holds its annual awards banquet at Menominee Casino Resort after the closure of The Gathering a couple of years ago, and Ball of the Badges takes place at North Star Mohican Casino Resort.
“Stubborn Brothers currently has a 150 foot facility,” White said. “This could be 250, possibly up to 300, depending on if we can accommodate and do larger events.”
He added that the events leaving the city, in his opinion, want to be in the city for their events.
“They don’t want to branch out and having people driving 20 minutes, 30 minutes to come to an event when there’s not a facility in Shawano,” White said. “I believe there’s a need for that, and if we can offer that, it’d be awesome.”
Bayland is White’s general contractor, and he estimated the company could get the building transformed and ready to operate next spring or possibly summer.
“They’ve taken a look at the infrastructure, and there is not a ton to be done there,” White said. “A lot of it is cosmetic — replacing flooring, taking out some walls. The basement portion of it will have a lot of structural change just because the ceilings are currently being dropped down. We want to raise them to the fullest ability we can to get the height that we want, and then breaking down most of the walls so we can make that a big, grand space.”
Churches are an institution that can fit into any neighborhood, according to City Administrator Eddie Sheppard, but when churches close or leave an area, there are not a lot of potential uses for the remaining building. He said some people had previously approached about turning Peace into a residential building, but it turned out not to be feasible.
“We don’t rezone things lightly,” Sheppard said. “There’s a zone where you can do a business like this in a residential area. It’s our neighborhood mixed use.”
He acknowledged that would be spot zoning, but there’s already precedent with Mickelson Funeral and Cremation Service near the church. Besides the new zoning, the event facility would need to get a conditional use permit from the city.
Commission member Terry Hilgenberg said any change would be dependent on neighbors in the area, expressing concern that noise from potential events might be an issue.
White gave assurances that the facility would not be operating late at night, and he believes the brick exterior would absorb a lot of the noise that any event would bring.
He added that the building should be used, if possible, and not disappear from the community.
“It may get torn down, and I would hate to see that,” White said.
lpulaski@newmedia-wi.com
