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The announcement came earlier this week in a letter from the U.S. Commerce Department’s Chicago office. It said that in a “preliminary review� of the city’s funding request, the agency had decided to deny funding and business support for the project.

It followed an announcement in late February that Wisconsin Gov. Tony Evers had included $15 million for the Woodman’s Center in his $3.8 million proposed state capital budget. Those funds would materialize later this year — if Evers’ earmarks remain unchanged as the Republican-dominated state legislature takes up consideration of the budget.

This week’s $4 million federal funding denial, that amounts to about 8% of the project’s overall needed funding, along with the state budget uncertainty, leaves the Woodman’s Center about $19 million shy of the amount of government funding that local officials say is needed to build the two-sheet ice arena, sports complex and convention center planned at the Uptown Janesville mall.

Petruzzello, who wrote the proposal to the U.S. Economic Development Administration for the $4 million in public works economic adjustment assistance funds, told The 69ÂÜÀò Wednesday that the city remains “very optimistic,â€� however, about the Woodman’s Center project.

The city late last year committed to borrowing up to $17.3 million to build the Woodman’s Center, and up to $2 million more to pay for design costs. And so far, a private booster group, Friends of the Woodman’s Center, has raised nearly $7 million, Petruzzello outlined in an email to The 69ÂÜÀò.

The city previously was awarded a different federal funding request — a $5 million U.S. Senate appropriation that Democratic U.S. Sen. Tammy Baldwin helped shepherd.

Petruzzello wrote that the city at this time has identified no additional grants it can apply for to build the Woodman’s Center, but she said the Friends of the Woodman’s Center “is exploring several (alternate funding) possibilities�

Petruzzello did not offer more detail on what types of funding the group is now seeking, and a representative of the friends group was not immediately available for comment on Wednesday.

Friends of the Woodman’s Center

Sabrina Bowerman, who leads the fundraising arm of the Friends of the Woodman Center, said the group is discussing both its grant funding options and further capital funding via private donations in order to plug the financing gap.

The city announced last week that the project would be slowed a few months as the city waits for firmer word, expected by June or July, on whether Evers’ earmarked $15 million in state funding will come through.

Under a tentative timeline, the city council hope to vote by August on whether to go ahead with constructing the 130,000 square-foot Woodman’s Center on the footprint of a shuttered Sears department store at the Uptown Janesville Mall on Milton Ave.

Moore indicated on Wednesday that the city would need to have all pieces of a $50.3 million “capital stack� for the project confirmed and committed before the council would vote to move forward.

Moore and Petruzzello also said it’s possible the project could face further cost reductions.

Bowerman said her Friends group has seen support from the private sector. In the last four weeks it has privately raised $700,000. All told, she said, Friends of the Woodman’s Center has amassed $6.82 million of a $7 million goal.

She said much of the recent private support materialized after Evers announced his backing, which she said created “momentum.�

Youth backing

Bowerman said a dozen local youth sports groups have pledged written support for the Woodman’s Center. That represents about 3,200 youths whose activities range from basketball to baseball to golf to dance.

She said that’s an indication that thousands of local families support the Woodman’s Center. Bowerman didn’t offer specifics, but said her group still has untapped options for possible grant funding.

“We believe this project is a really good fit for a lot of different grants because it has such a broad range of support for the community. You’ve got adaptive reuse, you’re spurring redevelopment and economic impact, and you’re generating jobs, equitable health and social outcomes, and community resilience,� she said.