The HT Cobblery/downtown Wausau rooftop restaurant story got complicated
The Wausonian learned through talking to the building's owner that there is more to the story
Channel 7 recently published a story about HT Cobblery closing because the building is going to be razed. But it turns out, The Wausonian found it, right now that’s a big maybe.
Back in 2017 while writing for City Pages I broke a story about Compass Properties buying the HT Cobblery building with the intentions of eventually turning it into apartments, and with the potential for a rooftop patio. The site, on the corner of Third and Jefferson streets, overlooks the 400 Block, making it an ideal spot for grabbing a drink and viewing the Concerts on the Square or other events.
From the 2017 story:
No plans have been finalized for the HT Cobblery building, [Mark] Craig says, but ideas include remodeling the second floor into seven apartments, including a pretty sweet rooftop patio overlooking the adjacent 400 Block square. The 7,000 square foot main floor, currently the HT Cobblery shoe store, could be leased out to a national or regional company.
The story was also a retirement story about Terry Koss, who owned the shoe store for decades.
But that never happened, and HT Cobblery remained open since then despite having a long retirement sale.
Rumors recently had been circulating about a rooftop restaurant once again being in the cards.
Last week, Channel 7 published a story that it’s coming, following a Plan Commission addressing the building’s zoning. Included in that meeting’s packet materials was a memo from City Planner Brad Lenz detailing plans to raze the building. Lenz told WSAW that the razing would hopefully take place as early as spring. And that the next step would be rezoning the property.
So The Wausonian did an apparently radical thing - we went and spoke to the actual current owner of the building. Compass Properties sold the property to Ryan Gallagher in May.
The Channel 7 story took Gallagher, who runs Rocket Industrial and The Wausau Business Show, by surprise. They hadn’t announced any plans to tear down the building yet, and didn’t even yet know if that was going to happen at all.
“We walked over there and said ‘hey Terry, where did you hear the building was going to be torn down?’ because we don’t know, we’re working with Boldt Construction and trying to figure out how to do this,” Gallagher told The Wausonian from his office at Rocket Industrial. “We’re trying to figure out what it will cost and develop a business plan. If the business plan and the financials don’t come together then Terry is probably going to stay there for a long time yet.”
Gallagher says the building was built in the 1960s and isn’t real cobblestone, but a facade to fit in with the surrounding area. “Whatever we do, we want to pay homage to the historical nature of the building,” Gallagher says.
In the packet materials, the staff report created by Lenz specifically says they plan to raze the building. (In the broadcast version, Channel 7 initially refers to Lenz as “Brian” Lenz but later gets his name correct.)
The petitioners are seeking the zoning change to allow for the construction of a two-story building across the street from the 400 Block in downtown Wausau. The existing building would be razed, with the foundation remaining in place for the rebuild.
Was there miscommunication between Gallagher and Lenz? I reached out to Lenz on Friday, who hadn’t responded as of Sunday morning. And my last message to Gallagher wasn’t returned.
WSAW’s framing of the story is odd. It said the city is planning on demolishing the building. The city doesn’t own it, however; Gallagher does. Cities don’t typically build restaurants.
The story also made it sound like the building was being yanked out from under Koss, but when Compass bought the property, they made their plans pretty clear. Compass leadership at the time said they planned to let Koss finish his retirement sale before making any plans happen. He told City Pages at the time that he considered possibly operating in a smaller footprint. Instead, he is still operating the Cobblery today, roughly 8 years later, under another building owner, the third in a decade.
In fact, B-roll in the segment shows Koss’ retirement sale sign, which would have been in the window when the news crew rolled up.
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