PROJECT EARNS
HONORS
The Rock Renaissance Area
Redevelopment project recently
received an Award of Merit from
the Wisconsin Chapter of the
American Society of Landscape
Architects. The award, given in the
category of Analysis and Planning,
was presented to the former
SAA Design Group – a firm Ayres
Associates acquired earlier this year.
project and explained the possibilities
the parking deck’s demolition brings.
Town Square replaces parking deck to activate the heart of the downtown
PRIORITY SITES
The ARISE plan targets six high-priority redevelopment sites in the City of Janesville’s central business district. They are:
REDEVELOPMENT SITE
KEY COMPONENTS
Catalyst 1: The Town Square
Removing parking plaza, other public infrastructure improvements
Catalyst 2: The former Rock County Jail Site
New housing, riverwalk extension
Catalyst 3: South Traxler Park
Expand Traxler Park, realign Highway 51, extend trail, kayak launch,
new mixed-use development
Catalyst 4: North Main Street
Catalyst 5: West Milwaukee/North River Streets
Catalyst 6: South River and South Franklin Streets
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Riverbank and riverwalk improvements, white water course and
park, adaptive reuse of historic buildings, mixed-use development
Mixed-use development, reconfiguring streets, upgrading Ice Age
Trail riverwalk
Mixed-use development
“One of our big keys is to remove that
deck, which then is a catalyst for a park
space in town that gets everything
moving and encourages development,”
Morrow said, noting that, in addition
to better connecting the downtown,
the changes will also make Janesville
a more “walkable” community and a
healthier environment to live in.
Communities often face resistance
when proposing sweeping changes like
those planned for the industrial City of
Janesville – but that’s not the case here.
Even private developers are committed
to the project, Morrow said.
“It seems like there’s a big desire right
now for change, and that’s unique in
a way,” he said. “When we went to
meetings and we came up with these
ideas, people were very receptive. Not
everyone agreed to everything, but
there was a general consensus that
was easily reached – like ‘yeah, let’s
do something. We want change to
happen.’ ”
GRANTS KEY TO PROJECT
Ayres has also had a strong hand in
securing grants to help the City fund
its projects and has been actively
involved in brownfield assessment and
environmental remediation as well.
To date, Ayres has assisted the
City obtain $1.3 million in U.S.
Environmental Protection Agency
brownfield assessment, planning,
and cleanup grants, according to
Scott Wilson, Ayres’ vice president of
Wisconsin environmental services, who
served as brownfield project director.
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“After we got the assessment grant,
we started doing some preliminary
planning in the downtown. We started
to look at some of the properties we
began to investigate and identified
properties that were badly in need of
investments, cleanup, or both,” Wilson
said. “The brownfield planning grant
is most useful to a community to build
off of that effort. It’s really intensively
focused on planning for future reuse of
specific brownfield sites.”
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Wilson hopes the collective efforts
will indeed allow the City see its vision
of connecting commerce, culture,
entertainment, and history come to
fruition.
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“We want to make a vibrant downtown
center,” Wilson said. “We want to
take these tired, underperforming
properties and put them into a reuse
that is attractive to people – so it draws
them downtown and it keeps them
there. This plan can do just that.”
Cherek said he’s enjoyed working with
the Ayres staff and is pleased with the
final product they’ve produced.
“We know that the ARISE plan
and what it provides is admittedly
ambitious, but it’s the benchmark
for moving forward. (Ayres) has, in a
very visual sense, conveyed what the
community was asking for,” Cherek
said. “This puts us in a very good
position to transform downtown, and
it’s exciting.”
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Town Square
Riverfront Housing
Festival Ground
Active Riverfront
Commercial Core
Downtown Campus/
Neighborhood Transition
TRENDS
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