It's been an exciting time for the North Barstow Street and Phoenix Park Neighborhood areas! Urban living has flourished and new businesses have accentuated the area. The demand for downtown living is high and local developers are filling the need. With several new residential buildings completed in 2012 and early 2013, many residents are enjoying the urban living lifestyle with beautiful views of Phoenix Park and in minutes of walking distance to many events and festivals. Downtown Eau Claire Inc. hosts an Urban Living Tour that showcases several downtown living apartments for people to view.

Along with the JAMF Software building, two additional apartment buildings with 54 units total are being constructed by Commonweal Development Corporation in the Phoenix Park Neighborhood of the North Barstow Redevelopment District. The estimate completion date for both JAMF Software and the residential buildings is fall 2014.

History

Phoenix Park Neighborhood is an extension of the successful Phoenix Park. Blocks 100-200 on south side of Madison St. continue to be developed into a grocery store, pharmacy, retail lifestyle center and parking. This is a six-block project between Madison Avenue and the RCU corporate center that will include more retail, offices, and restaurants.

The first building in the Phoenix Park Neighborhood plan was the Luther Midelfort Pharmacy & Home Medical, which opened in August 2008. The second building, a mixed-use development, broke ground in June of 2008 and by June 2009 most of its 33 apartments were rented out to excited tenants.

The third building broke ground on August 13, 2009. The building, which is still part of the first phase of the overall Phoenix Park Neighborhood, is a three-story mixed use structure located between The Livery and the new apartment building.

Ground broke for the Riverfront Terrace Apartments in November 2011, and the first building had all 28 units fully occupied by September 2012. The second building, with 26 units, was ready for full occupancy by early 2013.

If you are looking for available downtown apartments, visit The Phoenix Park Neighborhood website or our Live Downtown website.

To search available commercial properties in this district, please visit our property search website.

Visitors to the Phoenix Park area are seeing some changes to the landscape as workers are getting a site ready for JAMF Software. Work began for the four-story, 72,000 square foot, JAMF Riverfront Building immediately after a groundbreaking ceremony August 14, 2013.

"Many things had to fall into place in order to get us to where we are today and we have a lot of people to thank for helping us get here," said Project Specialist for JAMF Software, Julia Johnson.

For the last ten years the site had been used by Royal Credit Union as a parking lot. Other sites were considered before developer Stuart Schaefer, President of Commonweal Development Corporation, suggested talking with RCU about the potential of using the lot intended for their second building here," said Project Specialist for JAMF Software, Julia Johnson.

"RCU has been incredible to work with, from agreeing to have us as a neighbor and financing the building to putting up with the headaches of construction and new parking arrangements," Johnson said. "Their dedication to downtown redevelopment and the community is incredible."

The building was also made possible by a development agreement with the City of Eau Claire, which will provide a parking area until a parking ramp or other public parking is available in the North Barstow area. The agreement also provides $300,000 for soil remediation of the site, which has a long and varied history of manufacturing industry. The building is guaranteed to add $7 million upon completion and $8.5 million for 2015 to the tax base for Tax Incremental Funding District 8, Downtown Development Area.

Johnson said the company's values will be evident throughout the building. Wanting to show employee appreciation, the floor plan allows for all employees to have great views of the park with a shared 2,500 square foot space on the top floor, and all workstations are near exterior windows. Johnson said accountability is also important to the company, and that's reflected by the building's energy efficient design. Water bottle fillers, LED light fixtures with daylighting controls, waterless urinals, and locally sourced materials add to the building's environmentally friendly design.

There will also be indoor bike storage, locker rooms, and an outdoor tire filling station for people who bike to work or exercise throughout the day. The tire filling station will also be accessible by park goers for tires or tubes.