Faith Technologies backs out of buying Fox Cities campus

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By JUSTIN MARVILLE

USA Today Network

WINNEBAGO COUNTY – The county board is quickly pivoting.

Another business has appeared to express interest in acquiring “part” of the Fox Cities campus from the county after Menasha-based engineering company Faith Technologies opted not to buy the onetime University of Wisconsin-Oshkosh property.

Winnebago County Executive Gordon Hintz didn’t name the prospective buyer while providing an update at the Feb. 24 Board of Supervisors meeting, revealing the company toured the campus and asked about a particular portion of the 43-acre lot.

According to Hintz, it was just one of a handful of inquiries made into the Fox Cities campus, which also drew interest from a few nonprofit organizations looking at renting the space.

Why was Faith Industries interested in the Fox Cities campus?

Hintz’s update comes exactly a week after Faith Technologies announced it won’t be buying the campus following the end of a 90-day exploratory period, during which the company examined the possibility of turning the 43-acre lot into a national training center.

“The level of investment they needed to make the location, in terms of their ability to bring 2,000 to 3,000 trainees in, the numbers just didn’t add up to make it a worthwhile investment,” Hintz said of Faith Technologies’ reason behind not acquiring the lot.

“Looking at a national training center, I am not sure the Fox Cities campus was on their radar six months ago, but they thought it was an opportunity, they explored it and I think the numbers just didn’t work,” Hintz added.

Why did the county take over operations of the campus?

The Fox Cities campus was essentially shuttered last June as a result of budgetary issues and declining enrollment at UWO, prompting the county to take over the facilities’ operations and its amenities.

Winnebago County subsequently leased the University Children’s Center to the Menasha Joint School District and moved the Weis Earth Science Museum’s exhibits to the History Museum at the Castle before absorbing the Barlow Planetarium’s operations into the county budget.

But the Communication Arts Center theater and fieldhouse have remained closed while the county allots around $900,000 annually for operating and maintaining the entire 43-acre property.

What are the next steps for the county?

Hintz said Winnebago County is working on finalizing an agreement within a matter of weeks to have an entertainment management firm run the Communication Arts Center and fieldhouse.

Developers have also reached out to the county about building housing on the undeveloped parts of the campus.

“Our next step really is to get a process set up where we can get a community visioning process going before we do a market assessment and figure out what the best use of the property is going forward,” Hintz said.

“We want people to be able to use the campus because it is ready to use now, so although we haven’t figured out what to do with the rest of the property, we still want to get those parts up and running, because there are people who love using the campus,” he added.

According to Hintz, the Barlow Planetarium generated $73,669 in revenue since the planetarium’s operations were included in the county’s budget last June, which represents a 9.3% increase over the same period in 2024.

The Barlow had $26,090 of revenue in January, offset by expenses of $27,650, and Hintz said February’s revenue figures are tracking even higher.