500 Monument Square (Racine, Wisconsin)
Coordinates: 42°43′40″N 87°47′01″W / 42.72775°N 87.78372°W
| 500 Monument Square | |
|---|---|
| General information | |
| Type | Commercial building |
| Location | 500 Monument Square Main Street Racine, Wisconsin |
500 Monument Square, also known as 500 Main Street, is a building in downtown Racine, Wisconsin, facing Monument Square and Main Street, and located on the southeast corner of 5th Street and Wisconsin Avenue.
History
Zahn's Department Store (1925–1981)
Vacancy (1981–present)
Imaginarium proposal (1998–2003)
2003–2019
Tior Inc. faced foreclosure in April 2003. The Bank of Elmwood acquired the building in a sheriff's sale that month, paying off the mortgage obligation of $2,191,700.[1] The sale was officially recorded on May 13,[2] and the bank began seeking a buyer for the building, with an asking price of $2.5 million, which was later reduced to $1.99 million.
The Bank of Elmwood shut down in September 2009, and its assets, including the Zahn's building, were acquired by Tri City National Bank. Ownership of the property was officially transferred to Tri City on September 20, 2010, for $1,650,000.[2] Tri City lowered the asking price to $1 million immediately after acquiring the property, and received an offer from an unnamed party. However, the deal quickly fell through, and it was reported on September 27 that Tri City was lowering its asking price again to $850,000.[3]
By the end of 2010, Tri City dropped the price again to $749,000.[4] Wisconsin Redevelopment LLC offered to redevelop the building and neighboring vacant lot into a 38-unit low-income apartment complex, but the plan was abruptly canceled in December 2014.[5] In June 2015, Tri City accepted an offer by Lee Jaramillo of Northterra Real Estate Group to purchase the building for $479,000, planning to lease part of the building to the Racine Public Library as a satellite creative space. The library applied for a grant to fund 10 years of operations in the Zahn's building, but the funding application was denied. With the library unable to participate, Northterra canceled the planned purchase in September.[6]
On January 21, 2016, the property was ultimately purchased by 500 Main Street LLC, a single-purpose corporation created by regional gas station franchisee Bachan Singh, for $275,000.[7] Singh continued to offer the building for sale, raising the price to $595,000. Unlike Tri City, had no intention of lowering the price to attract interest, saying he would wait "till I get the right price." By August 2017, Singh had made at least two contracts to sell the building, but no offers had panned out.[8]
Proposed hotel (2019–present)
On October 11, 2019, the property was purchased by The Main Attraction LLC for $319,500.[2] Working with Dominion Properties, a real estate development firm based in Milwaukee, The Main Attraction proposed renovating and expanding the building into an 80-room hotel, with amenities including a rooftop bar. In addition to the existing Zahn's building, the hotel would use a newly-constructed building to be built in the vacant lot at 510 Monument Square.
Construction on the hotel was originally intended to begin in early May 2020, with a target opening date of May 1, 2021. Installation of a geothermal heating 
and cooling system began in March 2020, with the goal of making the hotel "extremely energy-efficient" and the third LEED Platinum -certified building in Wisconsin.[9] However, construction was delayed due to the COVID-19 pandemic , and the city agreed to push the start of construction back to January 15, 2021.[10]
References
- ↑ Burke, Michael. "Bank seeks buyer for former Zahn's", Racine Journal Times, April 17, 2003.
- ↑ 2.0 2.1 2.2 Property Details: 500 MAIN ST, cityofracine.org
- ↑ Burke, Michael. "Deal crumbles, price tumbles on former Zahn's building", Racine Journal Times, September 27, 2010.
- ↑ Burke, Michael. "Downtown faces some unique challenges", Racine Journal Times, July 3, 2011.
- ↑ Spoto, Cara. "Zahn’s developer pulls back", Racine Journal Times, December 8, 2014.
- ↑ Burke, Michael. "Zahn’s plan zapped", Racine Journal Times, September 2, 2015.
- ↑ Feldmann, Mark. "Zahn's building sold to Brookfield gas station mogul", Racine Journal Times, February 3, 2016.
- ↑ Burke, Michael. "Agent: Former Zahn’s drawing consistent interest", Racine Journal Times, August 31, 2017.
- ↑ Burke, Michael. "Preconstruction starts for Zahn’s hotel", Racine Journal Times, March 9, 2020.
- ↑ Johnson, Eric. "Racine Planning, Heritage and Design Commission approves requests", Racine Journal Times, July 26, 2020.
External links
- 1100 North Main Street at OpenStreetMap