Join the owners of 210 Civic LLC for a very special evening honoring the past, present, and future of The Historic Auditorium in St. Croix Falls. This community celebration will feature the presentation of the Wisconsin Historical Society’s Historic Preservation Award, live music, engaging speakers, and the unveiling of the newly remodeled main level.REDEVELOPMENT OF ST. CROIX FALLS HISTORIC AUDITORIUM (FORMERLY THE CIVIC AUDITORIUM)
Mayor Kirk Anderson of the city of St. Croix Falls first announced the commencement of the redevelopment of the Historic Civic Auditorium building on March 8, 2022, with the sale of the building to a local development group, 210 Civic LLC. Prior to the March 2022 announcement, the City of St. Croix Falls had recently repurchased the Civic Auditorium from the previous developer, with the objective of finding a new developer, and Jeff Virchow, a former city council member, teamed up with his brother-in-law, Richard (Rick) Vezina, owner of Lift Bridge Builders, a commercial construction firm, to create for 210 Civic LLC.
The sale and renovation of the building was the culmination of a multi-decade effort, and increased intensity of that effort with the award of a Community Development Investment Grant in 2015 from the Wisconsin Economic Development Corporation (WEDC) and the fundraising efforts by the Centennial Committee. From 2015 to 2022, there were some false starts with obtaining a commitment from a developer, the economy, and the Covid impact, etc, before the local investors from 210 Civic LLC emerged. The city was fortunate to have a city council unified on the objective of redeveloping the civic auditorium as a catalyst for downtown improvement, and an experienced and skilled city administrator at the time, Joel West, who worked with the WEDC to keep the grant from expiring, developed an extensive development agreement to accomplish the objectives of the various funders and parties involved, and negotiated with developers, to keep the up the project momentum.
History
The historic Civic Auditorium was built in 1917 and placed on the National Register of Historic Places in January 2007. It was designed to host touring vaudeville troupes as well as touring opera and theater companies. The upper-level performance hall served as a movie house until 1985, stood empty for just a few short years, and then in 1990 became the home of the Festival Theatre, a professional theatre company. The street-level space was a community center for many years, and in the 1940’s hosted a series of small sewing factories, later becoming City office space and finally the municipal library from 1970 through 2009.
The project will be funded by a unique combination of public & private investments coming from the Tax Increment District, Grants, Corporate Sponsorships, Individual Donors, and the State of Wisconsin Community Development Investment Grant. None of this would be possible without our many local partners and generous individual, corporate and foundation donors who have helped reach this point. We would especially like to thank the following redevelopment funders/partners:
Friends of the Civic Auditorium
Festival Theater
St. Croix Falls Centennial Committee
Hugh J Andersen Foundation
Andersen Corporation
Hardenbergh Foundation
Fred C. and Katherine B Anderson Foundation
Ravenholt Foundation
Studio M Architects
New History (Architects)
Wisconsin Economic Development Corporation
City of St. Croix Falls
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