JANESVILLE, Wis. — Southern Wisconsin is getting a new venue for athletic events and conferences.
Janesville leaders and residents hope the Woodman’s Sports and Convention Center will bring an economic boost to the city.
The center will be where the old Sears store was at Janesville’s Uptown Mall. Workers at the shopping center said they are hopeful it will bring some much-needed growth.
Jill Daniels is the manager of Daily Thread. She said the store does well at the mall because of its loyal customers.
“Since we’ve been here, they have made this a destination point to come shop at our store,” Daniels said.
She acknowledged that there are a lot of empty storefronts around Daily Thread.
Mall manager Julie Cubbage said the pandemic and closing of big anchor stores, like Boston Store and Sears, didn’t help.
“There were some pretty dire times.,” Cubbage said. “Just like at a lot of small community malls around the country. The big boxes have left, and the smaller retailers are going to bigger cities.”
That’s why the upcoming construction of the Woodman’s Sports and Convention Center means so much. It will be attached to the mall, so anyone who comes for a big youth sporting event or conference will have direct access to stores and restaurants.
“My phone’s already been ringing with people who are interested in opening stores here at the mall,” Cubbage said. “So that’s kind of exciting for us. I just think that the positivity within the community and within the tenants that are already here is going to just keep making us move forward.”
Janesville city manager Kevin Lanner said city leaders were strategic about the location and its purpose.
“It’s going to give people opportunity to come and see Janesville, see our downtown, and spend dollars at our local restaurants,” Lanner said. “So, I think that all around, it was just a huge opportunity for us to build something that we can all be proud of.”
The center will include a 1,500-seat ice arena, another multipurpose arena, and 26,000 square feet of space for both trade shows and events. There will also be basketball, volleyball and pickleball courts, as well as locker rooms and concessions.
“The city will be able to program our recreation division, and we’ll be able to program that space for everyone in the community, in addition to draw people from the outside,” Lanner said.
He said the center is expected to create more than 200 jobs and have an annual economic impact of $23 million.
Daniels said she is hopeful it will have a positive ripple effect on the workplace she loves and believes in.
“This mall has been quiet for a while now, and we just want it to be more fun for the kids and the adults to come back out and have meals here and make a day of shopping,” she said.
The Woodman’s Sports and Convention Center is expected to open in July 2025.