Indoor event center fits into new site for Country Jam USA
Jul. 18—EAU CLAIRE — Country Jam USA future home not only include a large outdoor music festival area and campground, but also a year-round event building and land for additional businesses as well.
Plans to develop 160 acres in rural Chippewa County the country music festival's owners bought this year and annexed into Eau Claire are going through the city's approval process.
The first stop is tonight's(Monday) Plan Commission meeting, where the project planned at the southwest corner of Highway T and 20th Avenue will be subject to a public hearing and then a vote.
A week later the City Council will hold its public hearing on the development and then vote the following day, July 26, on the rezoning, general development plan and other approvals needed for it to proceed.
Most of the site is devoted to facilities needed to host Country Jam USA, a three-day music festival held each July. The festival is slated to move there next year, shifting away form land it has long rented on Crescent Avenue in the town of Union.
Much of the new site will remain grass-covered, serving as campsites and parking for attendees at the festival and other outdoor events the location could host.
The main stage is initially going to be a temporary one, but documents submitted to the city by the developer state a permanent stage likely would be built at some point. Several other smaller buildings will also be built to support the music festival, as well as other big events like car shows that could use the grounds.
But Country Jam's owners are also looking beyond outdoor events to make part of their development a place for year-round gatherings.
On the north end of the site along 20th Avenue, the developers are planning an event center that would be marketed for weddings, small conventions, corporate events, meetings and other gatherings.
The 37,000-square-foot building would have a main room with capacity for 650 people. A full catering kitchen, offices and a paved parking lot are also shown in the plans.
The eastern edge of the property along Highway T is slated to be turned into six lots for other businesses.
Those lots are anticipated to be for a hotel, convenience store, restaurant and other businesses, according to a memo from the developer.
Highway T Property LLC, the company formed by Country Jam's owners for this project, stated in a memo that the development will "... create substantial economic generators and tax base for the city" and "establish a first class, state-of-the-art, destination focused, event center and entertainment venue ..."
This year's Country Jam USA is this Thursday through Saturday at the site in the town of Union.
Other business
Also on tonight's(Monday) Plan Commission agenda:
—A restaurant and oil change business are slated to be built alongside a busy intersection on Eau Claire's southeast side where a bank building used to be. Renderings submitted to the city show a Chili's and Valvoline Instant Oil Change planned for the northeast corner of Prill Road and Gateway Drive. CCF Bank used to have a large bank branch there, but then built a smaller building on a the property and cleared the rest of the land for new development.
—Plans for a two-story multi-tenant office building to be built on vacant land on Owen Ayres Court are seeking the commission's approval. The new building is slated to go between the Holiday Inn and Wipfli office building.