Partners to buy almost all River Prairie land left

CottageRidge Group, a new partnership consisting of Goldridge Group and Cottagewood Group, was selected as the firm to purchase a large portion of the City of Altoona's remaining acreage in the River Prairie project. The Altoona City Council last Thursday night directed staff to prepare a sales agreement to sell 111 acres in the southwest quadrant of the site that is located along Highway 53 and River Prairie Drive.

According to the sales agreement, the property will be sold for $7.23 million, which includes a payment of $1.5 million if commercial property sales meet established goals. The agreement also stipulates that the city invest $3.78 million in infrastructure in return for a guarantee that the developer construct taxable improvements on the site totaling $63 million by 2012. Altoona Finance Director Jon Pfeilsticker, said the additional taxes will be used, in part, to make debt payments on the city's infrastructure investment.

Robb Majeski and Peter Hoeft of Cottagewood Group will focus on residential development, while Gerard Koehn and the staff at Goldridge will focus on commercial development. Goldrige Group, which is presently developing the Waterford project at the intersection of South Hastings Way and Main Street, also owns retail shopping and/or office centers such as NorthRidge Center in Chippewa Falls, SouthRidge Center in Rice Lake as well as other properties throughout the Upper Midwest.

"We feel this unique location is the perfect place for retail and residential to come together to provide the Chippewa Valley with a true destination location," said Majeski, who added that construction could begin by 2008, if not sooner.

The City of Altoona last year entered into a contract to complete a sales agreement with Los Angeles,CA-based O&S Holdings to purchase a portion of River Prairie for retail development. The city has retained ownership of a 10-acre parcel in River Prairie for future sale or development, according to Altoona City Administrator Mike Golat. TBL