LIVING HERE
The former Lakeland School, located at 504 West Court Street in Elkhorn, WI, has been abandoned and deteriorating since 2008.
The 7.84-acre site, a former specialized school for children with disabilities, has faced years of neglect and calls for demolition. The building has significantly deteriorated, with calls from officials to potentially condemn and raze it. Neighbors and city leaders are now fed up with the lack of progress from out-of-state developers. The school building is boarded up, and the walls have graffiti in several spots. Some parts of the building have been previously torn down, but a majority of it still stands.
The Elkhorn City Council decided to issue an ultimatum to the current owners, Daqian Wang and CIC US Holdings**, who are based in New York City. They pressured the owners to submit a plan for redevelopment by February 25 or risk consequences. The owners did send their plan for the site by the deadline, but the community remains skeptical that the owners will put any money into the property. They plan to renovate it to provide a senior care center, but the community has heard that before, and nothing ever happened or changed at the property. If the developers continue to neglect the former school, Elkhorn does have one option remaining, and that is condemnation. Elkhorn’s Plan Commission will look over its proposal during its meeting on March 19.
**: China Investment Corporation (CIC), China’s $1.3+ trillion sovereign wealth fund, manages extensive global investments, including significant, yet shifting, holdings in U.S. private equity, real estate, and infrastructure.
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