Blugolds reimagine Eau Claire landmark into district for education and innovation

Rebranded as 900 District, the landmark healthcare location will become a health, education, innovation and wellness campus under the leadership of local entrepreneurs and philanthropists Zach Halmstad and Jason Wudi and HeartWorks co-founder and CEO Dr. Tim Nelson. The former Blugolds believe the 600,000-square-foot facility’s scale, history and strategic location provide a unique opportunity to create a destination unlike any other in the region.

“I’m energized. I’m excited,” Nelson says. “It’s fun to have people see the vision, it’s fun to have people start executing on their plans. We have a lot of work to do, but we have an opportunity that’s priceless.”

Several organizations announced plans to have a presence within 900 District, including:

• HeartWorks, a medical research nonprofit
• UW-Eau Claire
• Chippewa Valley Technical College
• True Wellness, a community-based health and wellness nonprofit
• YMCA of the Chippewa Valley

More organizations and partnerships are expected to emerge as planning continues. The 900 District team aspires to offer signature features, including:

• An advanced imaging center
• The HUB, a collaborative innovation environment bringing together medical device manufacturers, biomedical innovators, entrepreneurs, researchers, students, faculty and industry partners
• Education and workforce development programs focused on healthcare and emerging technologies
• Additional health, wellness, training, innovation, and community-focused tenants and development opportunities

“I’ve been absolutely amazed at the excitement that comes with the space and the caliber of people that are wanting to be involved in this project,” Halmstad says. “Our goal is to give them a place to live and enable them to have collaborations with like-minded people.”

UW-Eau Claire played a key role in keeping the space alive. The UW-Eau Claire Foundation purchased the property after the hospital closed in 2024 and former UW-Eau Claire Chancellor James Schmidt organized a group to explore a viable future.

UW-Eau Claire Interim Chancellor Michael J. Carney, who succeeded Schmidt, helped continue conversations until the nonprofit Heart Collaboration Center Inc., the parent company of HeartWorks, bought the property earlier this year.

Carney says 900 District’s proximity creates opportunities to collaborate that will specifically benefit three programs on campus: nursing, kinesiology and biomedical engineering.

While UW-Eau Claire has increased its capacity to graduate 140-150 nursing students per year, Carney said current facility limits on campus prevent the program from serving every interested and qualified Blugold.

“This building provides us with the opportunities to expand in ways that would allow us to meet a goal that will serve the residents of the state of Wisconsin and creating more nurses,” Carney says.

Limited space in McPhee Physical Education Center is inhibiting enrollment growth for the exercise science and rehabilitation science disciplines on campus and is restricting participant accessibility for the kinesiology department’s cancer recovery and fitness program. Carney says it is exciting to think about the possibilities and the space the 900 District could offer the university’s community-facing programs.

Carney believes biomedical engineering, one of UW-Eau Claire’s most popular programs, will greatly benefit from collaborations with medical device manufacturers and biomedical engineers and will be a “game changer” for UW-Eau Claire.

“That’s just scratching the surface of things we could do between UW-Eau Claire and this facility,” Carney says. “The building will be a tool for us to achieve really, really important goals and it’s only through collaborations we can get there.”

Nelson says the collaborative opportunity will be a differentiator, fueled by partnerships with young learners through research, internships and employment after graduation.

“There’s nothing like this anywhere in the country,” he says.

900 District has the support of former Wisconsin Gov. Tommy Thompson, Todd and Karen Wanek, John Menard and UW-Eau Claire alumni John and Carolyn Sonnentag. Carolyn was a medical technologist early in her career and worked with one of the first cardiologists to perform open heart transplants.

“To think my beginning of my career was working with hearts and now today to have this experience, I’m not kidding, this is wonderful,” she says.

The Sonnentags, who have built a close relationship with Nelson over the years, spent the afternoon touring the building and conversing about the future of 900 District.

“Eau Claire community, you have the biggest asset that this town has,” Carolyn says, referring to Nelson.

“It’s just amazing to have these community partners and the people that have seen the vision from the primordial stages to now, seeing it start to come to life with a plan,” Nelson says. “When everybody can bring their pride to the project and can feel ownership and be proud of what we’re accomplishing together, I think it makes us all smile.”