Wisconsin Rapids-WI

6 CIVIL AND MUNICIPAL VOLUME 4, ISSUE 6 manufacturing. That company went a long way in helping us ride that wave to come out the other side stronger, and they’ve since expanded. So, we’re trying to be agile and use this opportunity to capitalize on growth in other areas.” One of the ways they’re doing so is by playing a proactive role in developing and promoting vacant sites and under-utilized properties that are owned and operated by the city. So far, they’ve been able to do remarkable things to entice residential and multi-family development with their Rapids Rediscovered housing investment program, which is geared towards infill development on vacant lots. They’ve also used incentives like tax incremental financing (TIF) districts to make mixed-use developments happen both within the downtown and along the city limits. “We came in as a retail developer on one of these vacant projects,” notes Tom Richards, one of