Logan Students Redesign Vacant Coulee Auto Shop
Seventh graders from Logan Middle School presented redevelopment plans for a vacant north-side La Crosse building to city planners.
Updated on Nov. 4, 2026 in Secondary Education
Logan Middle School seventh graders presented redevelopment projects to La Crosse city planning staff for the vacant Coulee Auto Shop on the north side. City planning and development staff walked students through the process of creating a new development in the space.
Why it matters
The exercise gives students hands-on exposure to how a vacant commercial property is evaluated and reimagined within La Crosse's planning process. It also connects local classrooms with the city officials who shape neighborhood development.
The program has run for 16 years in La Crosse. The source does not report any outcomes, adoption decisions, or formal city responses to the student proposals.
The players
Logan Middle School
A public middle school in La Crosse whose seventh-grade students carried out the redevelopment assignment.
La Crosse City Planning and Development Department
The municipal department that evaluates development proposals and guided students through the process of creating a new development.
The details
Seventh graders at Logan Middle School were tasked with re-purposing the vacant Coulee Auto Shop on the north side of La Crosse. They presented their redevelopment projects to city planners on November 4, 2026.
Timeline
November 4, 2026: Seventh graders presented redevelopment projects to La Crosse city planners.
Curriculum Context
Hands-on civic projects that use real local sites, such as the La Crosse program now in its 16th year, are a model for connecting classroom learning to municipal planning. This places the Coulee Auto Shop exercise within a longstanding local effort to teach students how cities reshape underused property.
Residents near the north side may see the Coulee Auto Shop site discussed in future planning conversations as student ideas circulate. The source does not indicate any change to property access, zoning, or city services.
The takeaway
Projects that engage students with real local sites give young people a concrete look at how their city decides what gets built. Families interested in civic learning can ask their own schools whether similar planning exercises are offered.
Further reading
Explore more Secondary Education coverage from La Crosse schools.
Source note: This article includes information reported by WXOW.
