Neil Johnson njohnson@gazettextra.com Mar 7, 2023

 

Janesville -

 

 An ad hoc committee that’s spent nearly a year planning for the proposed Woodman’s Sports & Convention Center will take a few extra months, working through the summer, before sending the project to the Janesville City Council for a final vote.

At a meeting Tuesday of the ad hoc Woodman’s Center Design Committee, city of Janesville Public Works Director Mike Payne said it could be August before the committee recommends the council give final approval to constructing the $50 million two-sheet ice arena, sports complex and convention center proposed at the Uptown Janesville mall.

Payne said final project plans likely will be ready by late spring but the city has decided to delay for up to 8 weeks a vote on construction that had been slated for June or July. Payne said the city needs to first confirm it will receive $15 million in funding for the project that Wisconsin Gov. Tony Evers promised during a stop last week in Janesville.

The $15 million from the state would be a major piece of the project’s overall funding, comparable to the $17.3 million in borrowing the city of Janesville committed to late last year. The state funding would be earmarked in Evers’ forthcoming biennial state budget but Payne said Evers has in the past waited until August to sign the budget into law.

Payne said there’s risk in bringing final project plans to the council without the city having all its needed funding firmly in place. He said it also might be difficult to hold the line on costs if the massive project was bid out for construction months in advance of Evers officially releasing the dollars.

“In this market right now, it wouldn’t make sense to bid a project early and ask contractors to hold their prices for months while we wait to get confirmation from the state that we’re confirmed (to get funding),” Payne said.

Payne indicated the city also will hold off, until receiving the final word from Evers, on demolishing and removing parts of a vacant Sears store at Uptown Janesville. The Woodman’s Center is planned to be built on the Sears store footprint.

The city has already agreed to assume ownership of the Woodman’s Center. However, if the project were to fall through, the city would be required to return the Sears property to the mall.

Bill McCoshen, president and part owner of the entity expected to be the Woodman’s Center’s main sports user, the Janesville Jets hockey club, predicted the state legislature’s Joint Finance Committee will finish its work on the budget by mid-June.

McCoshen, a Madison political strategist, said based on his past experiences, if the Joint Finance Committee gives the nod to Evers’s commitment of $15 million, there’s an “85% to 90% chance” the governor will sign off on it.

Right now, consultants designing the Woodman’s Center say the facility can be built for $50 million, a number roughly in line with estimates made by the consultants late last year.

According to city estimates, the raw construction cost for the arena and convention hall is now tabbed at about $39 million. So-called “soft costs” bring the price tag to $50 million.

Consultants on Tuesday said that over 10 months of “value engineering,” they were able to shave off $1 million in raw construction costs. That allowed designers to add back in some security camera and computer system fixtures that earlier had been considered too costly.

Payne called the dovetailing of Evers’ commitment for state funding and word that the project’s costs haven’t increased compared to estimates last fall a “good news story.”

The decision to have a two-month delay comes after the city already had pushed a final council vote on the Woodman’s Center from April to June, as the committee grappled with ballooning construction and material costs.

According to another city announcement Tuesday, the city’s newly-picked city manager, current Waukesha City Administrator Kevin Lahner, will start work in early May.

In all, a delay on a vote until midsummer or late summer would mean the 15-month buildout of the Woodman’s Center likely would not start until late fall. That would mean the sports and convention center would likely be completed and ready for use by December 2024.

McCoshen and other Janesville Jets hockey club officials on Tuesday told the city design committee that the completion date falls right in the middle of a Jets hockey season, but they said the club is prepared to continue using the current one-sheet ice arena on Beloit Avenue for part of the season, until a new arena is finished.

Payne said the city hasn’t yet decided how and under what conditions the city would sunset use of the current ice arena.

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