Looking Ahead: Understanding the Redevelopment Plan for Boo U
- 1 day ago
- 2 min read
The release of the Baraboo Sauk County Campus Redevelopment Plan marks an important milestone in a process that has been emotional for many members of our community.
Over the past several years, hundreds of residents have attended meetings, completed surveys, written letters, and shared ideas about the future of the campus. Our community’s passion reflects just how much this campus has meant to Baraboo and Sauk County.
The Direction Being Proposed
Beginning on page 106, the report shifts from visioning into implementation. The consultants recommend that the City of Baraboo and Sauk County move forward with redeveloping the property as a mixed-use district over many years.
The proposed direction includes:
Significant residential development, including market-rate, workforce, and senior housing.
Adaptive reuse of some existing campus buildings.
New commercial and business uses.
Parks, trails, and preserved open spaces.
Opportunities for educational, workforce training, nonprofit, and community uses where feasible.
The report makes clear that housing is expected to become one of the primary long-term uses of the property and an important component of making redevelopment financially viable (see pp. 99–115).
Planned Community Uses Not Yet Committed
The report discusses educational facilities, nonprofit organizations, workforce training, community programming, and business incubators as desired outcomes. However, these are not committed projects.
Instead, the implementation strategy calls for identifying organizations that may be willing and able to occupy or operate these spaces in the future. In many cases, that means nonprofits, educational institutions, employers, or other partners would need to secure funding, commit resources, and choose to locate on the campus before those ideas become reality (Implementation Strategy, pp. 106–115).
In other words, while education remains part of the vision presented in the report, its future presence on the campus is dependent upon organizations stepping forward with the financial resources and long-term commitment to make it happen.
What Happens Next?
The report recommends that both community-based groups and developers submit proposals during an RFP sometime in 2026-2027. The report describes it, “Under this process, community-based groups would be given an equal shot at first, along with developers, to submit proposals and expressions of interest. All community-based proposals however, would have to be backed by solid business plans and realistic capital campaign strategies keyed to achievable fund-raising targets and milestones.”
Because much of this work depends on future funding, partnerships, market conditions, and developer interest, the report anticipates redevelopment occurring over many years rather than all at once.
Our Future
For decades, Friends of the Campus has existed for one purpose: supporting educational opportunities in Sauk County.
As the future of the physical campus continues to change, our commitment to education in Sauk County remains unchanged. We will steward our assets in accordance with that commitment.