Crews are laying the footings for a seven-story senior living tower at the corner of Grant and First streets in downtown Wausau, and fifty of its 70 apartments are already reserved before the building has risen above ground. The Grant Place is designed for people 55 and older, with a goal of keeping residents in an active, social setting as they age.
According to WSAW, fifty of the building's 70 units have been reserved, and crews are laying the building's footing before the weather turns colder. The goal is to finish the project in the third quarter of 2028. The site sits across from the YMCA, where the former Grabeal office building was demolished to make way for the development, as WAOW reported.
Monthly rent at The Grant Place ranges from just under $3,150 to around $10,000, the station's report notes, with units spanning just under 900 square feet to more than 2,000 square feet. The seventh floor will have no apartments at all; instead it's planned as a communal gathering space known as the Residence Club.
Assisted Living Planned Next Door
An assisted living facility is planned next to The Grant Place so residents can transition to additional care as their needs change. Jeff Stubbe, manager of Beacon Resources and executive director of the Davis Foundation, said residents needing more support could move into assisted living if they can no longer receive adequate care within their own apartment, and per the same account, residents will be able to join a waiting list ahead of time or move in right away once the facility opens.
Reports from earlier this year differ on exactly how large that neighboring building will be. In July, WSAU described it as a 24-bed facility that could help keep aging couples closer together, while the Wausau Pilot & Review reported the three-story, 64,000-square-foot building would include 25 resident units. That outlet also reported the two buildings would be physically connected, with Grant Place privately funded by Beacon Resources while construction of the assisted living facility is being paid for by the Dwight and Linda Davis Foundation. A permit for the assisted living facility was reported approved in August, according to WSAW.
Why Wausau Needs More Senior Housing
The project arrives as Wausau's senior population keeps climbing. Residents 65 and older made up 19.4% of the city's population in 2024, up from 15.7% in 2010, the Wausau Pilot & Review reported. Nationally, senior housing occupancy reached 89.5% in the first quarter of 2026 — the 19th consecutive quarterly increase — with assisted living occupancy at 87.9%, the outlet noted.
A draft regional study covered by the Wausau Pilot & Review projected that by 2040, the Wausau region would need 402 additional renter-occupied units, 771 independent-living units, and 545 beds for assisted living, memory care, and skilled nursing. The same report noted affordability and staffing as concerns, and found that older adults tend to shift toward renter-occupied housing as they age. Stubbe told WSAW in July that the project is aimed at addressing an anticipated shortage of senior housing options in Wausau in the coming years.
Together, The Grant Place and the proposed assisted living building would form what the Wausau Pilot & Review has described as a 95-unit senior living campus, expanding the former Prange's block in the heart of downtown. With footings now going into the ground, the timeline WAOW reported calls for construction to pick up in the coming months, concrete for the footings to be poured within two weeks, and an 18-to-20-month build — with project leaders hoping to welcome the first residents by the third quarter of 2028.
