Rothschild Village leaders and business people assembled at Cedar Creek Mall Thursday to announce the construction of a 50,000 square foot convention and expo center called the Patriot Center.

The Patriot Center will be built where the Steve & Barry's store used to be, which closed down 6 months ago. Thelma's Bridal will also be moved from its current location closer to the movie theater to make more room for the center.

Developers hope the Patriot Center will draw some of the larger events that the Wausau area has missed out on in the past.

Darien Schaefer, Executive Director of the Wausau/Central Wisconsin Convention and Visitors Bureau says the center will hold, "Everything from a wrestling tournament that is being considered for the facility, to a big convention, obviously trade show space it's ideally suited for, meetings, receptions, so quite a few different types of events."

And those events should bring nothing but positives into the community.

"We can garner up to $12 million of annual revenue that's being spent now in other parts of the state, so that's not just us, that's the restaurants, the caterers, the gas stations, the hotels, that's everyone," says Tom Timblin, owner of the Cedar Creek Mall.

Schaefer adds, "It's outside money coming into the community, generating overnight stays, of course the longer people stay in the community, the more opportunities they have to go shopping, dining, visit an attraction."

And the financial benefits go even further, as Timblin will be privately funding the construction, meaning no local, state, or federal tax dollars will be used.

The Patriot Center is expected to be finished towards the end of October, just in time for its first scheduled event this November.