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Tribune Building Project

By allysongwatson

  • Tribune Building Built

    May 1960 opening, 19,868 square feet, two full floors, small third floor mechanical area.The building’s circular area is not a true circle; rather, it consists of 16 sides. Over the years, it housed Wisconsin Rapids Daily Tribune and WFHR 1320AM / WWRW 103.3FM radio stations.

  • Stora Enso buys Consolidated Paper

    Consolidated was bought out by the Finnish company, Stora Enso in 2000 for 4.4 billion dollars.

  • Senior Resource Center Opens

    In 2003, a vacant former Wal-Mart building on the banks of the Wisconsin River was renovated to become a Senior Resource Center. Incourage’s role in this project can be most
    accurately described as “catalystand connector.” Recognizing the great need for a Senior Resource Center, Incourage garnered the already existing support, enthusiasm and effort regarding the Senior Resource Center and provided leadership to advance the project.

  • Community Progress Initiative Launches

    The Community Progress Initiatives goals were to:
    Create a business friendly environment and empower entrepreneurs.
    Shape a shared vision for the region.
    Stimulate new enterprises and new job opportunities.
    Build the endowed charitable assets in the area to support sustainable community development.
    Motivate emerging young leaders to lead positive change.
    Inspire community spirit and pride. Joint effort by Southern Wood County Comm. Foundation and Heart of Wisconsin Chamber.

  • Downtown Revitalization Cluster Public Art Group

    The creation of six historical murals was a project of the
    Downtown Revitalization Cluster Public Art Group. This
    group of volunteers wanted to see public art on display and the murals project was the first step in bringing outdoor art into downtown. From 2005-2007, Incourage served as the fiscal agent for the Downtown Public Art Fund where local residents and businesses contributed $8,625 to support the art murals that have created an art walk throughout the downtown.

  • Advance Leadership Institute Launches

    The Advanced Leadership Institute trained 60 community leaders in the sectors of government, business, health care, the arts, education, philanthropy, and religion. ALI has helped to rebuild this community’s economic base by establishing a strong network of leaders with the skills and tools to communicate and collaborate more effectively on behalf of the social and economic wellbeing of their respective communities and the region as a whole.

  • Study Tour to North Carolina

    Thirteen local residents and artists traveled to the
    western mountains of North Carolina, making twenty stops in three small towns that had dealt with the loss and reduction of manufacturing jobs in the textile and furniture making industries, as well as the loss of tobacco farms. The purpose of the Arts & Heritage Cluster was to look for new economic opportunities to promote our area’s rich history of local arts and culture.

  • Ahead of the Current 2007 Plan

    Ahead of the Current responded to the creation of the Tax Increment District (TID) downtown. The plan outlined 13 broad goals for the Downtown area encompassed in the TID, 35 strategies for achieving these goals, and individual tasks for specific parties. The plan organized these tasks by priority, time frame, and sources of funding.

  • Downtown Waterfront 2009 Plan

    The Downtown Waterfront Plan, like those preceding it, maintained the purpose to “recommend improvements and enhancements to create a unified downtown area for residents and visitors.” The plan serves as a guide to short-term and long-term improvements to the city’s downtown by building on “many strengths: historic character, diversity of retail and service businesses, industry, strong neighborhoods, the Wisconsin River, and beautiful parks and recreational facilities.”

  • Incourage Purchases Tribune Building

    In December 2012, Incourage purchased the building for $527,000. Assessed value is $668,100. To view the deed, click here. *Note: Community Property, Inc. is a 501(c)(3), 509(a)(3) Type 1 supporting organization of Incourage Community Foundation.

  • Study Tour to Bradenton/Sarasota, Florida

    Incourage organized and funded a study tour to Bradenton/Sarasota, Florida and to Miami, Florida to attend John S.
    and James L. Knight Foundation’s “Media Learning Seminar for Communities. "At the Knight Foundation" event, learning was focused on creating informed and engaged communities as a means of strengthening economies and democracies.

  • Phase 1 Begins: Meeting 1

    Meeting participants briefly learned about the Tribune Building Project and Incourage. Residents completed two primary activities: One activity asked residents to review maps of existing assets in the south Wood County area. Assets were organized according to six categories: Physical, Social, Educational, Cultural, Economic, andOrganizational. Participants brainstormed with neighbors about the kinds of uses thatcould take place in and around the Tribune Building.

  • Meeting 2 - Drawing Connections and Reaching Consensus

    Residents made notes, drew connections
    between ideas, and wrote their collective “vision” for the Tribune Building. Meeting participants, still with their tables of 8-10 people, prioritized the ideas that they thought would be the best fit for the Tribune Building in order to vote on them. Each table had 10votes to distribute in any combination among the 44 specific ideas and the 11 broader categories. They cast
    their votes on one of five wall graphics that depicted all the ideas and groups.

  • Meeting 3 - Identifying Partnerships and Users

    At Meeting 3, participants worked together with their tables to complete five worksheets, four of which were the same at every table. A total of eight categories were discussed. For each category participants elaborated on individual program options, provided information about possible duplication of existing assets, proposed operational partnerships, suggested time and utilization scenarios and ranked the program options.

  • Meeting 4 - Mapping the Tribune Building

    24 tables used a graph paper sheet and building blueprint to map out square footage to be committed to each building use. This was first opportunity to see building functions spatially. All uses identified their user groups, frequency of use, connections between spaces.

  • Phase 2 Begins: Meeting 1

    Residents were asked to get a head start on the design process to help the building flow in a way that responds to community vision. Residents were asked to consider how programs spatially
    interact within the building. Residents (in smaller groups) identified shared/mixed use spaces versus permanent use spaces.

  • $152k USDA Grant Received

    Capacity Building for Proactive and Collaborative Redevelopment Funded June 2014 – $152,492 to support central Wisconsin collaborative redevelopment efforts.

  • Meeting 2 - Floor Plan Review

    Table groups discussed and ranked floor plan options generated from Meeting 1. Each table had a sheet with a floor plan diagram of one of the two floors of the Tribune Building. Each floor was
    divided into a rectangular and circular volume. Table groups were provided with three floor plan options for
    each of these two volumes.

  • $400k ArtPlace America Grant Received

    Wisconsin Rapids received a $400,000 Art Place America Grant for the Tribune Building Project to install permanent art indoors/outdoors as a part of the community center.

  • Meeting 3 - Architectural Features

    Table groups discussed and ranked approaches to renovations of historic mid-century modern buildings. The results of these rankings will help inform overall design guidelines for tenant
    spaces and exterior construction. Each table had a sheet with four example renovations of building exteriors, and four examples of renovations of building interiors. Groups were able to respond to each of these groupings with three levels of detail - overall impression, impression of details and comments

  • Meeting 4 - Exterior Features

    Participants had to rank three different facade concepts and three different rooftop concepts to further support the architectural design process.

  • Meeting 5 - Building Sustainability

    Residents listened to two presentations by Sandy Wiggins, an expert on sustainability. Following each of these presentations, residents were asked to complete an activity in 14
    table groups, each consisting of 6-8 people. Residents were asked to consider four of eight broad aspects of sustainability. Half of the groups considered: durability, waste, livability, and adaptability. The other half considered: energy, water, beauty, and maintainability.

  • Meeting 6 - Art within the Tribune Project

    Residents addressed the integration of art into the Tribune Building. The Tribune Building Project was the recipient of an ArtPlace America grant which helped facilitate this unique
    opportunity to include community driven artistic intervention into the architectural design of the building.

  • Phase 3 Begins - Meeting 1:

    Participants learned from and shared with each other, personal interests and experience in a number of Tribune-related areas: arts, cafe/brewpub, community and downtown development, creative workshop, culinary kitchen, microbrewery, recreation, and youth. This was the first opportunity for residents to focus on one program area that excited them. Residents enjoyed building new
    relationships and sharing their experience and ideas to help inform the future programming within the building.

  • Meeting 2: Building Social Capital

    130 residents continued to build relationships and deepen conversations around identified areas of interest. Based on learning from the January 27 meeting, we recognized that a “one
    size fits all” approach to the agenda would not meet the needs of all interest areas. We invited each table host to co-create an agenda that accommodated their group’s needs.

  • Meeting 3 - Design Preview

    This meeting was held at the newly selected venue, Renaissance Learning. Residents heard a design update from our partners at Concordia with a detailed site design video. Residents also participated in two activities: a Rooftop design activity and a Networking Cards activity. The selected construction partner was announced as well as 18 ArtPlace grant artists.

  • J.H. Findorff Selected for Tribune Construction

    Based in Madison, Wisconsin, Findorff consistently surpasses industry recycling standards and has constructed dozens of LEED-certified facilities. They are an active member of the Wisconsin Green Building Alliance and U.S. Green Building Council on construction projects and were voted Environmentalist of the Year by Wisconsin Builder. As Incourage pursues LEED certification, specifically Gold level, selecting a construction management firm with this expertise was critical.

  • $10k Grant (Solarus/CoBank) Received

    Solarus is very excited to make a contribution of $5,000 along with a matching $5,000 from CoBank’s Sharing Success matching grant program to the Tribune Building Project for a total contribution of $10,000.

  • Study Tour of FEED Kitchens (Madison, WI)

    A group of residents and Incourage staff toured FEED Kitchens in Wisconsin Rapids to gain ideas and learn from best practices for the community kitchen in the Tribune Building Project.

  • Meeting 4 - Learn, Teach, Share

    Residents worked together to identify what they would like to learn more about and what they could teach others. Additionally, residents shared potential networks/groups that could benefit from learning more about the Tribune’s process and progress through a Tribune 101 presentation.

  • Study Tour to O'So Brewing Co (Plover, WI)

    A small group of home brewers traveled to Plover on June 25, 2015 to talk beer and brewing with Marc Buttera, founder and owner of O'So Brewing. In addition to all of his commitments, in November 2014, Marc signed on with Incourage as an advisor to the microbrewery that will be in the Tribune Building. He advises on an as needed basis regarding the operation, construction and architectural plans of the microbrewery.

  • $472k WEDC Grant Received

    The WEDC issued a $427,000 grant to the Tribune Building Project as an economic driver for the Southern Wood County area.

  • Meeting 5 - What's In It For Us?

    Residents worked together at their tables to create a list of what activities they anticipate doing in the Tribune once the building opens. These help inform a 2016 Learning & Events calendar where residents will be given the opportunity to try out some of the activities they are interested in, even before the building opens. Each table was given the opportunity to share their ideas with all meeting attendees, and place the ideas in the area in which they would be completed in the building.

  • Meeting 6 - Continuing Community Connections

    On December 1, almost 60 residents participated in a Tribune meeting at Renaissance Learning.
    Attendees received updates related to the Project and the local Makers group. Additionally, in response
    to conversations at previous meetings about a need for an information sharing tool, our Community
    Connections Team introduced a future online platform, scheduled to be released in January 2016.

  • Public Meeting on Tribune Building

  • Environmental Sustainability + The Tribune Building

    What is environmental sustainability? Why is it important? Why should we invest in it? Learn these answers and more at this interactive event, featuring Graham Hill of Concordia. Graham will share information about the Tribune Building’s sustainable design and functionality, and discuss why environmental sustainability is important to each of us, our community and our shared future.

  • $50k Bader Philanthropies Grant Received

    Bader Philanthropies, Inc., one of southeastern Wisconsin’s top five foundations, recently announced its Board of Directors has approved a $50,000 grant to Incourage to support a needs mapping project for older adults in south Wood County, including Wisconsin Rapids, Wis.

  • Tribune Building Receives APA Award

    Incourage has received a 2016 American Planning Association of Wisconsin Award for Urban Design for its Tribune Building Project.
    The award highlights an approved urban design concept for a new or redeveloped area of unusually high quality and design. It will be presented September 23 at the Association’s Wisconsin Chapter Conference in Appleton.