EAU CLAIRE, Wis. — A $70 million gift from two University of Wisconsin-Eau Claire grads has accelerated plans to build a mammoth downtown events center. The gift, one of the largest in UW system history, is from Carolyn and John Sonnentag. They were at UW-Eau Claire in the 1960s. Their fortune is from a precast concrete company based in Marathon, near Wausau. The gift enables construction of the 170,000-square foot event center to begin this spring. Completion is targeted for the Spring 2024 UW-Eau Claire commencement. The building is projected to cost $107 million. Capacity: 5,000 people.
Sonnentags. Their home now is in Mount Dora, Florida, north of Orlando. But their Wisconsin roots run deep.
Downtown on the Chippewa River. The project, along Menomonie Street, will include the Sonnentag Event Center, the 100-yard John and Carolyn Sonnentag Field House, a Mayo Clinic sports medicine and imaging clinic, a health and wellbeing center, and UW-Eau Claire athletic department offices.