It’s hard to miss the former hospital on Highway 17 as you drive into Phelps.
The prime property overlooking North Twin Lake has been sitting untouched for years with its roof caved in.
Phelps Town Supervisor Jeremy Ryan says the hospital closed in the mid to late 2000s.
“Then after that somebody purchased it, went in, and scrapped it. They took anything of value out of there,” said Ryan. “Then, they sold it to the owners just previous to us [the town] for $1. Shortly after they bought it, a storm blew through and kind of collapsed the roof and just made it uninhabitable. It's been sitting vacant for five or six years.”
The Town of Phelps acquired the property last year through condemnation. Ryan says the town is in litigation with the previous owners after they disputed how much the town should pay them for it with a court date set for March of next year. That decision won’t change the ownership of the property.
Now, it’s a matter of what to turn the property into.
“Our goal is to do it and do it right the first time,” said Ryan.
To help with that, the project was selected as one of ten for the Wisconsin Economic Development Corporation’s new Thrive Rural program.
The Town of Phelps will be working with the Vilas County Economic Development Corporation to utilize up to $25,000 in grant funding over the next two years to figure out what would benefit the community the most.
“The program is critically important for rural economic development corporations like us, given the constraints that we all operate under with limited staff and funding,” said Kathy Schmitz, the VCEDC’s Executive Director.
The leadership team working on this project includes Schmitz and Ryan as well as VCEDC Board Chairman Jim Tuckwell, County Board Vice Chairman Carolyn Ritter, and WEDC Regional Director Jim Rosenberg. They’re meeting weekly to kick start the project.
The Thrive Rural program will help give them the funds and resources to do things like hire a consultant or conduct studies to create a data, driven plan on what the former hospital site could become.
“We'll be looking to really identify what commercial development would have the most positive impact on the community, something that would bolster the economy, the tax base, and provide additional incentives for people to visit, which we believe will all advance economic development,” said Schmitz.
Ryan believes this property is key to spring boarding Phelps into growth and that the Thrive Program will help get them there.
“Rather than just somebody coming up without the data saying, ‘You know, let's do X with it,’ and then in three years, we just have another vacant building,” said Ryan. “I think it's important to get all that data and find out what not only is the best use, but what will succeed for years to come.”
As they’re working through this process, Ryan encourages people to come to town board meetings, which are held the second Wednesday of every month, to get updates and share their thoughts on the project.
“This isn't the town board deciding. This isn't any one group in particular. This is a community as a whole,” said Ryan.
Ryan stresses patience. He doesn’t expect to have a formalized plan until summer of 2025.
