Downtown Eau Claire has undergone many renovations since the summer, and it is not over yet.

The Green Tree Inn and Suites, located on 516 Galloway St. in Eau Claire, will soon be under new management.

Taylor Pelissero, a junior public relations major, transferred to UW-Eau Claire last fall but said she already got to know the area and thought it had a lot to offer.

“I explored a little bit downtown … Phoenix Park area,” Pelissero said. “I liked it a lot. I thought it was really different.”

Being new to Eau Claire, Pelissero said she was not  familiar with much of the city, but she was familiar with the new additions to downtown.

Local investors to lend a hand with the urban redevelopment. Among those investors are Ben Richgruber, the executive director of the Eau Claire Regional Arts Council and Stuart Sandler, the font designer and webmaster of such sites like fontdiner.com. Several other high-profile business and community leaders are also involved, including Nick Meyer, the publisher, editor and owner of Volume One and The Local Store, Zach Halmstad, co-founder of JAMF Software and Grammy-award winning artist Justin Vernon.

The Green Tree Inn will operate under its longtime management until early spring. After that, the business will shut down and renovations will begin. When they start, they plan to create 30 rooms between the property’s two parts. They plan to use elements focusing on the group’s passions of art and creative culture according to Richgruber.

Richgruber said there is no official title for the renovated hotel.

“There are a lot of great ideas,” Richgruber said. “We’ve done some research on the history of Eau Claire and other hotels in Eau Claire.”

Richgruber said they’ve also looked into what the Green Tree Inn used to be. Although Richgruber said he did not have any personal experiences with the Green Tree Inn, he brought something else valuable to the group.

“I was a hotel manager.” Richgruber said. “I do have a history with hotel management and operation before I moved back to town.”

Richgruber also worked for a company that did quite a few projects where they took over, remodeled and renovated properties.

“I ran a few day-to-day operations as well,” Richgruber said. “We want to evoke a sense of place, really let people know about Eau Claire. Tell Eau Claire’s story and what made this town what it is today and what we’d like it to be.”

The investors plan on keeping this project an independent business separate from the Eau Claire Regional Arts Center, Volume One and the Local Store.