Forward Janesville - TheReport - First Quarter 2024

At the highest level, the goal of the Woodman’s Center is to improve the quality of life for residents. Project organizers say this will be accomplished by providing a space to foster youth achievement through athletic and other extracurricular activities, improving public health outcomes, and catalyzing greater economic prosperity. How does one space accomplish such lofty goals? Speak to early advocates of the project, and they say they were inspired by what the community told them, that Janesville needed something more than just a replacement for an aging ice arena. The Nuts & Bolts The Woodman’s Center development will occupy 140,000 square feet of prime multi-use space and will be a game-changer in economic revitalization. It introduces the Mercyhealth Arena, a 1,500 seat ice arena, alongside a 250 seat multi-purpose venue for sports such as basketball and indoor soccer, plus the Robert & Delores Kennedy Conference Center, a 25,800-square-foot convention space for high-profile events and additional sports facilities. Once complete, the convention space will accommodate up to 1,200 people in a banquet-style format and offer 20,000 square feet of event space to support keynote speakers, meal spaces, break- out rooms, and trade show areas. The complex will be built at the site of the former Sears store at Uptown Janesville and has been lauded for its visibility, its proximity to a dense concentration of hospitality businesses and as a midpoint between Interstate 90 and downtown Janesville. The site points to the city’s progress in a comprehensive vision for revitalization that really started downtown and is working its way through other significant areas of the city. The Woodman’s Center will be a completely new development for Janesville and the region, especially in the world of meetings and conventions. The Janesville Area Convention and Visitors Bureau (JACVB), the organization tasked with attracting visitors to Janesville from outside of Rock County for business, sports and leisure, estimated the city has lost $5 million in missed meeting and convention opportunities in the last five years because of space limitations. “Some of the larger effects will come from conferences and business meetings coming during the weekdays and helping support restaurants and other hospitality businesses that see slower business during the weeks. I think that is a benefit many haven’t realized yet,” said Paul Benson, former city council president. Navigating a Path to Success Once completed, the Woodman’s Center will be the punctuation on an eight year process sparked by one imminent problem: the Set to Take Off The story of the Woodman’s Sports & Convention Center By Ashley Pettay The largest public-private partnership in history - the Woodman’s Sports & Convention Center - is just over one year away from coming to life and is on track to become a pivotal economic and social hub for the city and the greater stateline area. Slated to open in the late summer of 2025, this monumental project represents not just a new physical space but an opportunity to transform the former Sears site at Uptown Janesville into a vibrant center for sports, meetings, and conventions. Rendering of the soon-to-be Woodman's Center Exterior of the Woodman's Center Space layout of the Woodman's Center 6 | FORWARD JANESVILLE