JANESVILLE, Wis.–Blackhawk Community Credit Union has announced plans to build a 130,000-square-foot, four-story development that would include a General Motors “Legacy Center” along a
stretch of the riverfront in this city.
“If the project comes to fruition as planned, it would be one of the largest developments in downtown Janesville in years,” the Janesville Gazette reported. “It comes at a time when revitalization of the riverfront is starting to heat up with multiple new private and public projects taking shape.”
BCCU CEO Sherri Stumpf told the publication the credit union plans to break ground in fall 2019 on the new corporate headquarters, branch credit union and conference center with a 10,000-square-foot GM legacy center being part of a $30-million investment the credit union plans over the next decade downtown.
In all, the proposed development would take until 2021 to complete, the Gazette reported, and would be spread across 2.5 acres of riverfront the credit union intends to buy along South Water Street.
Other Uses
About 60,000 square feet of building space would be for use by other tenants. Some options for the development, Stumpf told the Gazette, include restaurants, retail shops, law offices and condominiums. Under a partnership being worked out now, UW-Whitewater could locate classrooms there.
The Gazette added the legacy center would showcase memorabilia and history from the GM assembly plant’s nearly century-long run, and would include collected and curated relics and pieces of architecture from the GM plant, which is under demolition for redevelopment by the plant site’s new owner.
Stumpf told the Gazette the credit union’s assets have nearly doubled since 2011, from $320 million to almost $600 million. It now has 50,000 members. Stumpf said the credit union needs a new headquarters to support projected growth over the next 20 to 30 years.
Founding Member on Hand
Among those who were on hand for the unveiling of the plans was Harry Harnack, 85, who worked at the plant for 36 years, beginning in 1951. Harnack was also one of the seven founders of Blackhawk Community Credit Union, and the only one who’s still alive.