Effort To Transform Wisconsin Rapids Site Into Community Hub Gets $3M Boost In State Budget

Tribune Building Project Includes Plans For Brewpub, Job Training Programs

The building on the Wisconsin Rapids riverfront is distinctive for its circular shape on one side. Built in 1960, the 20,000-square-foot space is the former home of the city’s daily newspaper as well as two radio stations. 

But ever since the Wisconsin Rapids Daily Tribune moved to different office space about a decade ago, it’s been vacant. In 2012, the Incourage Community Foundation bought the building and used it to launch an ambitious community engagement project they hope will transform the space, and even the city.

That project got a boost in the state budget signed into law by Gov. Tony Evers on July 3. The Tribune Building Project received a state grant worth $3 million that leaders say will help advance the project and make it easier to obtain new private grants...