100 Block: Here We Go Again

Gee, here's a surprise (Not!) from today's Oshkosh Northwestern:

The 100 Block is on the block.

Ben Ganther, one of the owners of the company that built and operates the building at 100 N. Main St, announced Thursday that the building is for sale. In a statement, Ganther said the building "did not operate according to projections" and options to refinance or sell the building are being considered. According to the statement, a sale offer is being reviewed.

For the second year in a row, the 62-unit downtown apartment building ranked among the top properties in Oshkosh with delinquent property taxes, a Northwestern review showed.

Almost $147,000 in 2006 city property tax is owed on the 100 N. Main building

The building when it was built in 2002 was anticipated to be a cornerstone of downtown revitalization. Although more than $2 million was invested in it and 95 percent of its apartment units are now rented, the owners have had difficulty attracting commercial tenants for the ground floor.

The 100 Block development process was a forerunner of the Five Rivers Resort fiasco. In each case, we had the public systematically shut out of the development review process, we had the Common Council going into dubious closed sessions to make the project happen, and we had a city administration and council (not to mention local press) that refused to listen to logic and common sense about the prospects for such a development.

Last time the tax deadbeat issue came up, I posted this tax deadbeat timeline.