By Kevin Boneske
Staff Writer
ASHWAUBENON – Vacant property in the village along Broadway previously used by Schneider National is now being looked at for possible residential development as well as senior housing.
The village of Ashwaubenon is planning to purchase the two parcels that total around 20 acres with the intent to close on the site in early November.
The village board Tuesday, Sept. 25, authorized contracting with McMahon & Associates and Stantec for preliminary site work on the parcels.
As a contingency of the purchase, the village previously had a Phase I environmental assessment of the site completed by Stantec, which Village President Mary Kardoskee said cost $4,500.
Kardoskee said the preliminary site work has a total cost of $104,100, plus final road and utility design costs, with funding from Tax Incremental Financing District No. 3.
Those costs include $36,100 for Stantec to proceed with its Phase II work, with McMahon & Associates handling wetland delineation ($3,000), site private utility location and topographic survey ($20,000), soil borings to determine soil compaction for building footings/foundations ($22,500), asbestos inspection ($12,500) and preliminary layout/concept review ($10,000).
Though providing few specific details about the village’s plans for the site, Kardoskee said the village has been working with two developers with both residential and senior housing being looked at as possible uses.
However, she pointed out the prospects for attracting a senior apartment complex there could face problems, given the difficulty for getting tax credits in Ashwaubenon for such a development.
Kardoskee said all costs related to the village obtaining the property would be TIF No. 3 expenses with the anticipation they could be recouped with the sale of lots in the development in conjunction with a future development agreement for the property.
Village Manager Allison Swanson provided few specific details when she mentioned during the board meeting about the discussions going on with the unnamed developers as to how the property could be used.
“All of the parties have been in the room together to try and smoosh it all together and make it work,” Swanson said. “It seems to be working so far from a conceptual standpoint. It’s really about trying to get to the numbers, so that they can figure out what it costs to build the more traditional residential component…”
Swanson said the village would be able to recoup its expenses for land and infrastructure by selling off lots or units.
“Our goal, what we set out to do, is that we would take all of our expenses and divide it by the number of lots on that site, and they would pay us back,” she said. “We’d literally get cash back for that. We have not touched any TIF increment.”
Swanson said the village’s goal would be not to use tax incremental financing to recover the dollars, but rather make a sales transaction to break even, and then at the end have an additional TIF increment to do other things.
Neither Swanson nor Kardoskee have publicly disclosed what the purchase price for the vacant Schneider National property will be.