The long-vacant Hudson dog track could soon be renovated into a baseball field surrounded by an office complex, housing developments and a new beer hall.
The St. Croix Meadows Greyhound Racing Park has stood idle since it closed in 2001. Past efforts to breathe new life into the 130-acre site have gone nowhere. The latest, from Woodbury-based Hudson Gateway LLC, is an ambitious undertaking that could cost $175 million to $225 million, Hudson Mayor Rich O’Connor said.
“This is going to be big, and they’re going to employ a lot of people,” O’Connor said. The project could create as many as 1,000 jobs on the Carmichael Road site.
According to documents from a Hudson City Council, the project would be developed in three phases through the year 2021.
The initial phase will include the baseball field and stadium, where a Northwoods League collegiate summer baseball team would play; a brewery; hotel; restaurants and offices. The brewery and offices would make use of the existing building, with an events center on the top floor, O’Connor said.
Later phases of construction would include the construction of condominiums, an indoor sports complex, stores and additional offices.
The new St. Croix Meadows Park is expected to be a community-friendly, urban-style environment, according to its planners. Buildings are to complement the walking paths and ponds of the development and are to be constructed with materials such as natural stones and bricks.
PARK’S HISTORY
The Hudson track opened in 1991 after a statewide referendum that allowed a state-run lottery and pari-mutuel betting in Wisconsin. It cost $40 million to build and was described then by the Pioneer Press as having an “ultramodern” clubhouse “with neon decorations, a modern art sculpture at its entrance, subdued colors and carpeting inside, individual television monitors at the seats, a lounge and a restaurant offering ‘fine dining.’ ”
That first year, the track attracted 479,000 visitors who wagered about $40 million.
That same year, though, a federal judge ruled that because Wisconsin had a lottery and legalized betting at greyhound racetracks, the state, under federal law, must allow Indian tribes to open casinos. Observers say the casinos quickly cut into Wisconsin’s dog track revenues.
The year before the Hudson track closed, 99,000 people attended, wagering about $15.8 million.
When the track closed, about 200 people lost their jobs.
SEARCHING FOR NEW LIFE
Hudson residents fought efforts for years to bring a casino to the site. Even an effort to have the Hudson School District buy it to build a new school ran into opposition.
Before the introduction of the latest project, the land had a total property tax of $104,385, with little economic impact to the community beyond that amount, O’Connor said.
