County board agrees to buy Jackson Street office building

The Marathon County Board of Supervisors on Tuesday agreed to purchase for $735,000 a property at 530 Jackson, Wausau, for a possible future courthouse or jail expansion project.

Under the approved deal, the board would lease the property to its current owner, Dietrich VanderWaal Law Group, for $54,000 a year with an annual three percent increase in the lease amount. Either the county or the law firm can break the initial three-year lease with 90days notice.

County administrator Lance Leonhard said the county has no immediate need for the property but, a 2012 facility study by architectural firm Potter Lawson, Madison, identified the property as needed for a courthouse expansion.

He recommended purchase of the property now, while there were willing sellers, rather than attempt to acquire the property during a condemnation proceeding.

Leonhard said that if the county is able to rent the property for 11 and onehalf years the county taxpayers will be able to acquire the land for nothing.

County board chairman Kurt Gibbs, town of Cassel, supported the land purchase.

“If one uses condemnation, the additional cost, including relocation, is about half the original cost of the property,” he said.

Human Resources, Property and Finance Committee chairman John Robinson, Wausau, provided a quick history of the county courthouse.

The courthouse was built in 1953 and, after the purchase of an A & P grocery store, was expanded in 1973. The jail was built next to the courthouse in 1988 and expanded in 1997 and 2010.

Supervisor Jeff Johnson said he was happy to acquire the property by an agreement rather than through condemnation.

“Otherwise, we would be trying to evict lawyers,” he quipped. “How silly would that be?”