RIVER FALLS – Mann Valley Corporate Park, the City of River Falls’ fourth and largest corporate park, is on track to be completed by October 2024.

According to Economic Development Manager Keri Schreiner, who gave the River Falls City Council an update on the project’s progress at the March 28 city council meeting, the city purchased the land for the park in 2011 and 2013. The updated concept plan, approved last year, includes 226 acres of light industrial and manufacturing, 10.5 to 57 acres of mixed use development (commercial and medium/high density residential), 4 acres of low density residential, 39 acres of institutional use (owned by River Falls School District), and 63 acres for conservancy.

City staff has been working SEH Inc. to finalize the design plan, coordinating with and communicating to adjacent property owners, obtaining easements, bidding the project and more, Schreiner said.

“The construction of the Mann Valley Corporate Park will be one of the largest infrastructure projects that the city has completed and will include 35,000 cubic yards of earthwork, 2.5 miles of sanitary sewer with a wastewater pumping station, 4.5 miles of water main with a pressure reducing station, 3,900 feet of roadways, and 2 miles of utility maintenance/multi-use paths,” Schreiner said.

The city was set to open construction bids March 30, which were reviewed by the Utility Advisory Board April 17. The city council will participate in a workshop on May 9 with the corporate park as the topic, followed by bid review and Tax Increment District creation on May 24. Contracts should be awarded in June.

The 2022-2026 capital improvement plan included $13.9 million for Mann Valley in 2023 and 2024. Ninety percent cost estimates from SEH put the park’s cost at $16.5 million.

Annexations

The council adopted an ordinance approving the annexation of 48.61 acres owned by Gary J. Moelter in the Town of Troy into the city. The property is located along county roads U and M adjacent to the Mann Valley Corporate Park and is slated to be used for mixed-use development. There are no current development proposals on the table, so the land will be zoned “agriculture” in order to allow its existing use to continue, until development occurs.

The council also adopted an ordinance approving the annexation of 19.81 acres of land in the Town of Troy into the city boundaries. The land, owned by the city, will be zoned R-3 multiple family (high density) residential and C-conservancy district. The eastern portion of the parcel containing a farmstead will remain in the township. The eastern portion of the annexed parcel contains an existing drainageway which will be preserved. The western part of the parcel will be marketed for residential development.