Fifty years of asphalt. Site is between Center and Main streets, where long-gone sawmills once reigned. To the right: The Winona 7 movie house. To the left: An industrial railroad spur and the Mississippi levee. Since the 1970s, when remnants of former Latsch sawmill-era structures were razed, city planners have called it the 60 Main site. Image: Steve Lunde
$4.9 million tax break among incentives to developers
WINONA, Minn. – The City Council unanimously approved almost $5 million in tax breaks plus subsidies and other incentives to developers to build a long-planned downtown hotel-apartment complex. The complex will replace the parking lot behind the Winona 7 movie house. The subsidies clear the way for construction to begin in the spring. Tentatively a grand opening would be in late 2026. The subsidies go to:
> Rivers Hospitality, owned by Winona hotelier Mike Rivers.
> Winona Real Estate Fund, an investment group headed by Northfield hotelier Brett Reese and including veteran Winona developer Peter Shortridge
> Wieser Brothers, a LaCrescent-based general contractor.
The plan is for a five-story structure bounded by the Main Street farmers market, by the Winina 7 cinema, by the two-story River Plaza building, and by the former Jefferson bar and grill on Center Street. It’s the former Latsch Block on the 19th century sawmill riverfront. The Latsch Block was razed in the 1970s and converted to parking for a downtown shoppping mall that struggled and eventually failed. On one side, the new structure will face the Mississippi River across a Union Pacific industrial railroad spur and the Levee Park.
Classy digs. Plan is 70 to 80 hotel rooms, 20 to 30 market-rate apartments, and an event center in the former railroad freight house that most recently was occupied by the Jefferson restaurant and pub.
Subsidy details
Subsidiary components include:
> A $4.9 million tax break.
> City land valued at $545,000.
> $800,000 to prepare the site.
> $200,000 in city funds.
The project already had a $600,000 state grant.