Urban Living 2016

WE ALL HAVE TO LIVE SOMEWHERE, and many Chippewa Vallians have decided they want to live in the city. As Eau Claire’s downtown continues to grow and more and more upper lofts are renovated, it’s nice to know that a neighborhood isn’t just a big yard and a picket fence anymore.

With urban living though comes some challenges, In this section, we take a look at what you need to know about moving, living, and decorating in an urban environment.

words | Katie Robertson • Tom Giffey EDITS | Eric Christenson • Tom Giffey design | Serena Wagner • Eric Christenson

LANDING ON THE RIVER

new Haymarket Landing caters to students with cool downtown digs

By KATIE ROBERTSON / PHOTOS BY ANDREA PAULSETH

L

ooking for a change of scenery from on-campus dorm life? Make yourself at home in Haymarket Landing, the new, privately built UW-Eau Claire housing option that will be open for residents starting this fall. While this building will be similar to the on-campus Chancellors Hall – including apartment-style units, residence assistants and study lounges on each floor, and other social areas – Haymarket Landing will include several other amenities and features.

The setting of this building alone will be a huge plus for its residents: Located in downtown Eau Claire, yet only about one mile from campus, Haymarket Landing overlooks the meeting point of the Eau Claire and Chippewa rivers and is right next to the future home of the Confluence Performing Arts Center. (When the shared university-community arts center opens in 2018, Haymarket will be the ideal home for performing arts majors.) Haymarket is being built by private company, Eau Claire-based Commonweal Development, in partnership with UWEC. Since the building is on a bus route, students have easy access to the rest of the city, but they can also stick around the downtown area to explore all kinds of shops and eateries, hang out in Phoenix Park by the river, or go to the farmers market.

The six-story mixed-use building, which is being built by Commoweal Development, is a key component of the ongoing strategy to revive downtown Eau Claire. Construction began in late 2014, and work is expected to be finished this summer.

The building itself will have 33,000 square feet of commercial space on the first floor, which will feature a coffee shop, a fitness center, and more, and the other five stories will be living space for as many as 400 residents in 119 apartments.

Unlike Chancellor’s Hall, Haymarket

HAYMARKET LANDING, VIEWED FROM PHOENIX PARK

Landing will have rooms of varying sizes, and apartments ranging from studio and single-bedroom units to four-bedroom units will be available. All of the rooms will feature full-sized beds except for the two-bedroom double units, which will have two loft-able, twin-sized beds in each room. Though the units will be separated by gender, groups can elect to live in mixed-gender units if an entire unit is available and that group can fill the unit.

As each unit will have a full kitchen with stainless steel appliances and granite countertops, residents will not be

required to purchase a university meal plan. The apartments will be fully furnished as well with living room furniture, beds, and a dresser and desk for each room. Residents will have closet space, a washer and dryer in each unit, air conditioning, and a cleaning service for their bathrooms.

During the warmer months, residents can take advantage of the outdoor seating and the rooftop terrace with a terrific view. The patio will also feature a grill and a fire pit for good eats and late-night fun. An air pump will be available for fill-

ing bike tires or inner tubes.

Residents who have a car will have the option to purchase a pass for the onsite parking garage, but residents who don’t get a spot will have space to park on the street or in the city’s parking garage.

This building will be mainly house upperclassmen and graduate students.

If everything stays on schedule, Haymarket Landing will be finished in July and ready for the fall semester.

To learn more, visit haymarketlanding. com or uwec.edu/Housing/ and click on the “Coming Soon” icon.

SUBMITTED PHOTO

HAYMARKET LANDING, VIEWED FROM SOUTH BARSTOW

INTERIOR OF A SIMILAR APARTMENT DEVELOPMENT IN MENOMONIE VolumeOne.org 32 March 9, 2016

VolumeOne.org 33 March 9, 2016

UPSTAIRS, DOWNSTAIRS

Eau Claire developer proposes a progressive idea: a new live-work space for downtown

By Tom Giffey JOHNSON ARCHITECTS

L

iving and working in the same place is far from a new concept.

From time immemorial, craftsmen have plied their trades near their own hearths, and countless 19th- and 20thcentury shopkeepers ate and slept in the apartments above their businesses.

However, over the last century or so, the automobile, suburbanization, and the global nature of modern business have driven a wide wedge between home and workplace for most of us.

And yet, in some places, forces are pulling in the opposite direction.

Whether it’s because of the increasing attraction of urban life, the desire to avoid lengthy commutes, or simple practicality, developments are springing up that combine street-level space for shops, studios, and offices with apartments for entrepreneurs on upper floors. Such developments have appeared in larger urban areas – think Seattle, San Francisco, and St. Paul – and now an Eau Claire-based developer wants to create one in the heart of downtown Eau Claire.

Geoff Moeding of Moeding Partners – whose four existing developments in downtown Eau Claire include 84 apartments and 30,000 square feet of commercial space – recently told the city Redevelopment Authority that he’d like to build three buildings, including one featuring live-work space, on what is now a parking lot in downtown Eau Claire. The North Barstow Street parcel – otherwise known as Block 7 or the “Livery lot” – is one of the final undeveloped parcels in the Phoenix Park neighborhood. According to a project summary, Moeding says the building “will provide a commercial flavor to the street frontage and provide the entrepreneur or very small business a great option for visibility and affordability, with office or workspace coupled with living quarters.” The original plans called for two buildings (which would be separated by an alley) facing North Barstow Street. Each building would include about 25 apartments and 2,400 square feet of ground floor space along the street. However, after feedback from the RDA, the two buildings have been merged into one, which would include six to 10 ground-floor commercial spaces, Moeding says.

Who would

LOOKING AT THE FUTURE? Developer Geoff Moeding points to live-work developments, like this proposed one in Seattle, as models for what he wants to build in Eau Claire. use such live-work spaces? Moeding says they’re ideal for plenty of professionals, from attorneys and architects to seamstresses and artists. “I think it’s time for another niche market to open up,” Moeding says of the live-work concept. “JAMF encourages me that way,” he adds, citing the homegrown software company, which recently built a fourstory office nearby. “I think there’s just a lot more people going the entrepreneurial route.”

Advocates for live-work developments cite their many advantages to urban areas. According to Seattle-based Johnson Architects – whose mixed-use developments Moeding points to as a model of what he’s aiming for – “the benefits for the occupants are numerous: retailers gain the visibility and

accessibility afforded by being located in a dense area, and tenants gain the convenience and increased quality of life that comes from complete, walkable communities.”

The potential Eau Claire development would appeal to more than a select few, Moeding says. “It’s ideal entrepreneurial space,” he explains, “but I’ve seen tons of different kinds of uses” – such as business owners subletting the upper-floor apartments to other renters.

“This project would benefit both the North Barstow Redevelopment district and the City of Eau Claire with the addition of much needed housing to meet the growing demand for downtown residences,” Moeding wrote in his proposal to the RDA. “The additional residences and live/work space will add to the synergy created by more people living, working, shopping, and playing in downtown.”

Mike Schatz, the city’s economic development administrator, says he’s not aware of any other developers who have attempted to build such livework space in

“retailers gain the visibility and accessibility afforded by being located in a dense area, and tenants gain the convenience and increased quality of life that comes from complete, walkable communities.”

-Geoff Moeding, developer

VolumeOne.org 34 March 9, 2016

Eau Claire. “I think he was looking for another type of housing to present and another type of commercial (property) so we weren’t constantly repeating ourselves,” Schatz says of Moeding’s proposal. Schatz notes that the RDA has sought commercial development along North Barstow (a guideline that Moeding’s plan would seem to meet).

The proposed four-story live-work building would include 45-56 apartments, while the other two buildings – one facing Galloway Street on the south and the other facing Wisconsin Avenue on the north – would each have 30-40 apartments. Parking for residents would be between the buildings on the inside of the block. Moeding has offered to buy the property for roughly its assessed value ($310,000), and he estimates that the development will be worth at least $14 million. He also has requested that the city help with $2 million in tax incremental financing to help him break even on the project. (In TIF districts, such city payments are offset over time by the additional property tax revenue generated by new developments.)

Moeding presented his plans to the RDA in mid-February, but no action was taken. He will go before the RDA again on March 16 to discuss further details about the project. If an agreement is finalized in the near future, construction could begin later this year, and all three buildings could be complete by 2020.

VolumeOne.org 35 March 9, 2016

renter’s cheat sheets

before you sign that lease, check out these helpful tips for the serious renter

‘Is This Place Cool?’ CHECKLIST

Tips for the Prospective Renter

 Turn on all light switches to see if they do, indeed, produce light

 Ask around. If a friend lives in a place they like or deals with a landlord they like, there

 Check each power outlet (use a small appliance like a hairdryer)

may be units available even if they aren’t advertised.

 Turn on the sink and bathtub faucets (check for leaks or plugged drains)

 What is the neighborhood like? Look at nearby amenities and bike/walkability. Check

 Flush toilet, check for leaks

the 2009 Rental Living guide at VolumeOne.org for a full breakdown.

 Look for smoke detectors and fire extinguishers

 Call the local health department. They can tell you if there are any uncorrected com-

 Check ceiling and walls for cracks and water stains

plaints against the property (Eau Claire: 715-839-4718; Chippewa Falls: 715-726‑7900; Menomonie: 715-232-2388)

 Check the locking mechanisms on doors and on all the windows  How well sealed are the windows? (Will you pay a ton for heat/air?)  Inspect furnace and/or air conditioner. Are they well-maintained?  Check hot water: Is it the proper temperature?  Check for exit lights  Is the exterior of the building well-lit and well-maintained?

 Get the name of a possible landlord and run it through Wisconsin Circuit Court Access (wcca.wicourts.gov) to see if he/she has a clean record.

 The Eau Claire Police Department has developed a voluntary Certified Landlord Program. See if your landlord is certified, as it shows a dedication to what they do. Visit www.ci.eau-claire.wi.us/landlords.

 Never sign a lease without seeing the apartment – especially in complexes where “all the apartments are the same” and they keep a clean one on hand to show people like you.  Read and understand all lease paperwork. Make sure all your questions and concerns are answered before you sign. It is a contract, and means you have legal responsibilities as well as the landlord.

 A one-page lease could be a red flag. The more paperwork, the better. Tenant and landlord responsibilities should be clearly defined.

 Good landlords enjoy answering questions. They want tenants who care about their living space.

 If you’re deciding between two places, consider the Paper Layout Experiment.

Take the rough measurements of the crucial spaces, and note where there’s vents, doorways, windows, etc. Then measure your furniture, bookshelves, and the like. Divide the measurements down so the room can fit on paper. Then do cutouts of the furniture and organize them in the paper room. Whichever layout excites you more is the winner.

VolumeOne.org 36 March 9, 2016

Renters insurance

what you need to know (and why you should probably get it)

(Policies rarely come with free hugs.)

• Policies usually start around $100 a year. Not a month. Not a quarter. A YEAR! • It covers your personal property in circumstances like theft, fires, natural disasters, and more. Obviously there are exceptions and exclusions, but, in general, your stuff is covered when the crap hits the fan.

• Policies cover “replacement equivalents.” Meaning, if you have a big ol’ tube TV and it goes, you get the equivalent of what’s new – so you’re gettin’ a flatscreen, baby.

• If your apartment has a fire, not only does it cover your “stuff,” but also where you will live for the immediate future.

And even if your place doesn’t burn and it’s a neighbor’s place, you might have to be gone, too. In either case, it covers hotel/motel costs for those circumstances.

• If someone visits and they get injured, your policy may cover medical payments and liability in case they want to sue you.

(Again, with limitations.)

• It is basically a homeowners policy for renters. And homeowners policies often come with longevity discounts (so the longer you’re with a firm, the cheaper it gets). In some cases the years you have renter’s insurance can count toward longevity discounts if you become a homeowner and stay with that firm.

The Renter’s toolbox You don’t need much as a renter, but a few tools will make life much easier.

Toolbox: Duh. But a nice one with a handle is incredibly useful, because if you don’t know where your tools are, they aren’t helpful.

Reversible drill with a bit set: Infinitely useful for fixing up furniture, tightening bolts, and getting to all those other projects you’ve been putting off.

Hammer: Look for one that’s heavy with a fiberglass shaft and a rip claw.

Level: Indispensible for hanging pictures.

Utility knife: Look for replaceable blades and keep some on hand.

Staple gun: Tackle basic reupholstery jobs armed with one of these.

Duct tape: For quick repairs and emergencies.

Glue: White glue and crazy glue for big and small projects.

16-foot tape measure: Get one that locks and remember to take it with you if you’re going furniture shopping.

Set of screwdrivers: A good mixed set includes flat and Phillips head drivers, maybe even a magnetic head.

Needle-nose pliers: If you can find a pair with a wire cutting blade, grab ’em.

Safety glasses: Don’t start a project without these.

Stud finder: Start here when hanging pictures.

VolumeOne.org 37 March 9, 2016