The Infused project transforming the former Wausau Chemical building hit a roadblock... it's just not pretty enough

That was the conclusion of Wausau's Economic Development Committee last week, raising questions about the city's development process

The Infused building, formerly a Wausau Chemical building, at 180 E Wausau Avenue

In 2022, Dr. Mathew Aschbrenner proposed an ambitious project. He would turn a building that once belonged to Wausau Chemical near the riverfront into a greenhouse and event space. And it would be open by 2023.

Today the project isn’t done. But it’s pretty close… it’s just not pretty enough.

That was the conclusion of the city’s Economic Development Committee last week. That sends a project that is nearly complete back to the drawing board, to bring a beautification plan to the city’s ED committee meeting in February.

Here’s how the whole thing went down.

Infused

Asch Properties, owned by Mathew and Kristen Aschbrenner, responded to a request for proposals to do something with one of the former Wausau Chemical buildings at 180 E Wausau Avenue. The building became empty when the city incentivized Wausau Chemical to move away from the river to the city’s industrial park as part of the city’s plan to reclaim the riverfront.

The RiverLife development area was meant to be Wausau’s flagship zone for bringing new buildings to the city. And yet, today it’s still mostly void of development besides the Wausau on the Water building and the RiverLife apartments. That complements the River’s Edge Trail and RiverLife Park, which was funded largely through donations from the community.

The former Wausau Chemical building is technically north of the main RiverLife area, and is part of an area the city had planned to hire a consultant to plan for, but that was vetoed by Mayor Doug Diny earlier this year. This particular building is located next to the new Wausau Music building across the street from Athletic Park.

The city in 2023 voted to give Asch Properties a one-year extension - but by the deadline in August of this year, the project wasn’t yet complete.

Interim Community Development Director Randy Fifrick says the developers have made a lot of progress since that August deadline.

But it’s not quite to the committee’s satisfaction. And that’s where the conflict arose.