As The Chocolate Cafe and other businesses open, Wausau's downtown starts to make a comeback on its own

Paul and Kristin Zaal in the new downtown business The Chocolate Cafe, one of many new businesses to open downtown as life returns to downtown. (Courtesy Emily Zaal)

I made an observation last summer, and it wasn’t a good one: Downtown was dead… or at least seemed on its way there.

A foray downtown felt like walking through a ghost town. On a sunny, windless day, all the tables on the 400 Block were empty, hardly anyone was walking the streets, and a Kosovo-like industrial wasteland stood where the mall once operated.

It was a far cry from the day when, in my early 20s, a couple from out of town stopped me to ask about the 400 block stage and all the people who seemed to be milling about. They were quite impressed, especially learning about the concerts that played the square every Wednesday.

On a trip downtown last week to interview Paul and Kristin Zaal, owners of The Chocolate Shop, on their new venture, The Chocolate Cafe, it dawned on me: Downtown is back, baby.

That was actually the second time I’ve had that observation in recent weeks. The first time was a couple of weeks ago. The downtown I remember pre-pandemic seems to have re-emerged. I sat in The Pinery Coffee Company along with many others working or relaxing with a coffee drink in hand. Outside I could see groups of young professionals (or at least, folks of that age) passing by the windows at regular intervals. Downtown Grocery was hopping too.

This was the promise of the city’s downtown housing plans, but downtown seems to have decided it didn’t feel like waiting. The downtown already felt like its old self.

In my interview with the Zaals, they agreed. They had customers walking in while they were still finishing up work on the place, and by the time the weekend came around, they were already really busy.

“We found this with the Chocolate Shop too, that people underestimate the buying power of Wausau,” Paul Zaal told me. “And they underestimate the number of people downtown.”

He later said “I think there are a lot of businesses, either in Rib Mountain or elsewhere, who still underestimate the downtown.”

Why? Kristin Zaal said something I agreed with and observed myself — more businesses are starting to pop up downtown again. But it’s not just that, it’s the kind of businesses: A mix of retail, restaurants and most crucially, places to hang out.

I also think it’s more than that. There seems to be a vibe shift downtown, where people want to be there again. Such things are squishy and hard to quantify, but major increase in people is much easier to identify.

Here’s why I think downtown feels different these days:

• The Children’s Imaginarium: Maggie Gordon told the city recently they’d hoped to sell 350 memberships in the first six months of the imaginarium’s opening. They’ve sold 600 in less than half that time. It’s been a resounding success, and other businesses are seeing lots of traffic from the imaginarium, downtown business owners told Gordon. The Chocolate Cafe, with its corner window overlooking the imaginarium, included a special kids table facing the kids wonderland. The imaginarium has brought an infusion of people downtown.

• The Washington Square/Third Street Lifestyle Center’s comeback: The building was looking like a hollowed out shell of its former self after the pandemic. But it’s back. The Chocolate Cafe opened last week (all my interviews will now be conducted there over Choco-lattes, thank you very much) and Jimmy John’s opened right next door. Venado Cerveceria tucked away on the north downtown provides a cool hang. Add Magnolia Soap Company in the former Lamplighters space, and The Pinery Coffee Company for coffee hangouts, and it’s easy to see why downtown might be thriving again.

• A non-alcoholic option: Forward Beverage Company is filling an important need in Wausau: a non-alcoholic option. They not only provide their own place to find an NA drink, but have started selling at numerous other places downtown and beyond. That helps not only those who don’t drink at all, but those who want to start sobering up for the drive home but want something a little more interesting than a glass of water.

• Further efforts to assist the homeless: Outreach Coordinator Tracy Rieger has made great strides to start getting Wausau homeless population housed, and more work is being considered, such as a program to help case manage homeless women. On the other side of that coin, police enacted a policy last spring in which they no longer allow homeless encampments in city parks, including those near downtown. The combination seems to have curbed the conflicts with unhoused folks downtown police brought to light in 2022.

What’s to come?

T. Wall Enterprises leaders have told city officials that they are ready to break ground in May. That’s coming up soon, so your Wausonian will be checking for ground to break on that project. My sense is that housing down there is coming sooner or later, regardless of who will bring it. The demand for downtown housing has been there for awhile.

Housing is tough to build. If you want to dive deep on this topic, I recommend this post from journalist Noah Smith, who also (I had no idea) is involved in real estate deals. I tend to enjoy Smith’s sober analysis, even when I disagree with it. But I think here Smith neatly summed up the challenges around real estate and its financing.

I don’t think anyone would deny that more downtown housing is probably a good thing. The debate I’ve seen is around who is building it and how much city incentives they receive. That is certainly another matter.

But when those residents do enter downtown, they’ll find a pretty thriving place outside their front door. That wasn’t the case nine months ago.

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