Making of a mighty mug

Milwaukee Journal Sentinel, The, Jan 6, 1998 by KRISTINA M. KNAPCIK

The only way it could be more Wisconsin would be if it were full of beer and sporting a Packers logo on the side.

More than two years after plans to build the world's largest beer stein in Black River Falls were announced, the gigantic suds mug is closer to reality.

Construction of Ye Olde Steinhaus, which has become a much bigger project than its creator expected, will begin in April and is expected to be completed in March 1999. The 10-story, stone-sided building will include two glass-walled elevators in the handle, a metal roof resembling a stein lid and a moat with a drawbridge.

Just like smaller versions that feature themes and stories, the beer stein building will focus on deer hunting. The hunting theme, complete with lots of antlers hanging from walls, will run throughout the stein and a strip mall connecting the building to a matching hotel. "It says `Wisconsin' loud and clear," said Susan Sampson, an artist and developer who has been working on the plans for about three years. Since the project has become much larger than she anticipated, the building's opening has been postponed from May 1997, Sampson said. Some stores will open this October.

"It has really grown," she said in a recent phone interview from her Black River Falls home. "I can't believe the interest in it." She has gotten so much response that the complex, which originally was expected to cover about 13 acres, will need 22 acres. About 65% of the 65 retail spots already are spoken for. "I am sure that (we'll have) 100% occupancy before we start construction," she said. Aside from the shops, there will be banks, a restaurant, coffee shops, at least four art galleries, a museum and a microbrewery where beer drinkers will be able to sip suds. "It is a big job, believe me, it really is," Sampson said of the $10 million project. "I wasn't intending on the project growing so much in the three years I have been working on it."

The location of the complex, right off I-94 in Black River Falls, will bring in many people traveling through the western part of the state and give Wisconsin another tourist attraction, she said. Plans call for a 9,000- square-foot convention center above the specialty stores. Many people have called to book conventions, tours and weddings at the unique complex, she said. The $10 million price tag of the privately funded project does not include the hotel and the convention center. Sampson's company will contract with a hotel to build onto the complex.

Sampson has hired the same architectural firm that worked on the Mall of America near Minneapolis and Kevin Costner's hotel and casino in Deadwood, S.D. Sampson came up with the idea in 1993 and first planned to build a much smaller complex in La Crosse. She pitched the idea to La Crosse officials as a great addition to a city that already has the world's largest six-pack at Heileman's brewery actually six grain elevators painted to look like beer cans. However, she withdrew the plan before the council could vote on it after getting resistance from community members and some Common Council members. Sampson said the several years she has spent on the project have been exhausting but worth it. "It is like a dream come true," she said.