LEADERS OF PROPOSED OWEN FACILITY STILL OPTIMISTIC
Wednesday, May 18th, 2011 -- 12:42 PM
A group trying to establish an Agribusiness Innovation Center in Owen remains optimistic that ground will be broken for the facility this year.Rebecca Baumann is the Executive Director of the Central Wisconsin Agribusiness Innovation Center?or CWAIC (pronounced ?quake?).
While no groundbreaking date has been set, she says the group and the City of Owen remain in discussions with possible private investors. Details of those talks are confidential.
The center would cost about $9.8-million to build. The group has a commitment of $4-millioin from the U.S. Dept. of Commerce?s Economic Development Administration, but it requires a local match of $5.8-million.
Baumann says the group has the ?point-eight,? but still needs to find the $5-million before they break ground. It remains unclear how long the grant money will be available, but she says the group is targeting early July to have a groundbreaking.
In the meantime, CWAIC has been working to shore up potential lease agreements with a number of colleges and universities, including CVTC and NTC, UW-Stout and UW-Eau Claire.
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