La Crosse Center

La Crosse, WI | Government + Cultural

An entertainment destination and a premier convention site for the Midwest, the Lacrosse Center leveraged its connection to the historic, downtown corridor and its unique location next to the Mississippi River to be an economic driver to the City of La Crosse. ISG offered multidisciplinary and local design services for the expansion and renovation of the Center to provide the City with a facility that will generate value for years to come.

The City of Lacrosse (the City) recognizes the La Crosse Center’s (the Center) revenue generating potential and took the opportunity to enhance the user experience in the downtown corridor by renovating the existing space.

Partnering with ISG provided the City of La Crosse with the expertise and experience necessary to design a new space that fully captured its potential. The focus of the efforts included a renovation and expansion that connected the La Crosse Center to the surrounding natural and vibrant elements of the downtown area. Through a highly interactive public engagement process, ISG worked with a wide range of user groups to positively influence the project design and maximize the guest experience.

Balancing the La Crosse Center’s downtown location with the scenic attributes of the adjacent riverside creates a juxtaposition of landscapes—contributing to its popularity and appeal. The expansion with the rooftop patio and renovation of the entry plaza, brought connectivity and focus to the surrounding elements and downtown corridor, while offering additional space for gatherings and pedestrian accessibility. To improve flow and create more opportunities within the Center, the atrium was designed giving more space to ticketing, concession, and merchandising. Surrounded with floor to ceiling windows in the atrium and throughout the renovated event spaces, gave the spaces natural light, views to the exterior, and passerby’s insight to the event spaces. Renovation of the 7,000-seat arena, the Center’s 900-person ballroom, and expansion of the exhibit hall with support spaces, a catering kitchen, and meeting rooms created ample opportunity for the La Crosse Center to host multiple events concurrently.

Using the findings from the facility assessment, the design team developed numerous concepts that gave the La Crosse Center the means to make informative decisions for the design efforts moving forward. Backed by a supportive community and a local team of ISG architects, engineers, and planners, the City set its eye on a new concept for the space that embodied the true spirit and culture of the La Crosse community. The ISG team gathered insight from the community throughout the design process to ensure that the space represented the unique wants and needs of the community.

Proactive and transparent communication allowed ISG to streamline efficiencies and to keep the project on schedule and within the desired budget. With a clear understanding of the budgetary goals, ISG used visualization and 3D renderings to ensure expansion and renovation efforts would retrofit into the

existing space without issue. Our team helped bring visions to reality through animations and visualizations to show sequencing and how the project was going to progress through completion. This allowed the community and its future guests to see their visions come to life and experience the planned event and gathering spaces first-hand.

"The planning that went into the $42 million project was made effortless when working with a team like ISG. Our visitors, stakeholders, and the community are ecstatic with the end results."

- Kris Salzwedel, La Crosse Center Operations and Sales Manager