Appleton leaders are going over the details of a proposed parking ramp for the U.S. Venture project, and the company’s CEO is pledging to work to keep the cost as low as possible.
John Schmidt says the issue is that the ramp came back over-budget. He says they’re trying to make sure the city can pay for it, without using taxpayer dollars.
Schmitt says they’ve gone through the project very carefully with the contractor. He says they’ve agreed to pay all of the costs that are attributed to U.S. Venture, and that’s about $580,000. On top of that, the company is pledging another $1 million to help with the situation.
The cost for the four-story underground ramp is now up to almost $35 million. It would be the foundation for U.S. Venture’s proposed downtown headquarters on the bluff site.
City leaders are working on options to pay for the project, by using revenue from the parking utility and not any property tax dollars.
