By Kevin Boneske
Staff Writer

ASHWAUBENON – What’s being touted as the “Gateway into Ashwaubenon,” the 78-unit Manseau Flats apartment complex along the Fox River next to Highway 172, held a ribbon-cutting ceremony Monday, Oct. 22.

“This is the first thing everybody from Milwaukee sees when they come over that bridge,” said Ryan Bedford, a partner in the upscale housing project who has also been involved in high-end building developments in the Milwaukee area. “Now we have a really, really nice building. Let’s hope that maybe we can get a little more development in this area right close to here.”

Bedford said the first 7-8 tenants began Oct. 15 moving into the six-story building.

The first two floors consist of two-story townhouse units with four floors of single-story units above that mostly consisting of two-bedroom units.

“The cool thing about this project is that (the two-bedroom apartments are) huge units,” Bedford said. “They’re 1,500-square-foot two bedrooms. They’re almost 900-square-foot one bedrooms. Just really kind of high-end finishes.”

Those on hand for the ribbon-cutting ceremony were able to tour a two-bedroom apartment on the sixth floor.

Bedford said the size of the units is more like condominium style than apartment style with the two-bedroom units facing the river or the harbor and the one-bedroom units facing the highway.

He said the value of the Manseau Flats, for which the features include Amish cabinets, quartz countertops, balconies/patios for every unit and Wi-Fi and cable, is in excess of $9 million.

Bedford said most of the people moving into the Manseau Flats are those who are selling their houses.

“For them to sell a $200,000, $300,000, $400,000 house and want to move into our apartment says a lot to us,” he said.

Village President Mary Kardoskee said the Manseau Flats is a “high-end building” where people would want to stay until they pass away.

“It’s a beautiful building,” she said. “It’s something that you only move into once and you just stay until you’re flat.”

The Kendal Group, Ltd., project has been done in conjunction with Bedford Development, Walker & Dunlop, TDI Associates, Inc., VJS Construction Services, the village of Ashwaubenon and the Wisconsin Economic Development Corporation.

Village Manager Allison Swanson noted the property previously was owned by the village before being deeded over for the project, for which additional road work took place and a cash incentive was provided.

Bedford said the project materialized after the village had sought that type of development for more than a year.

“The opportunity came out where we had finished another project,” he said. “We said, ‘Let’s look at something different.’ We knew the Milwaukee market was getting oversaturated – even a couple years ago we knew it was getting oversaturated, now it’s way oversaturated – and we wanted to look into secondary markets. That’s why we figured Green Bay was a good spot.”

Given the amount of high-end housing now under construction or planned in Ashwaubenon and the Green Bay area, Bedford said he expects a “slow go” in filling the units at Manseau Flats.

“We don’t think it’s going to go quickly – the last couple of months it’s been a little slow – but the good news is… typically we get like 10 calls, 10 showings, and we might get one application, (and) here we’re getting one call and one application,” he said. “So we’re just not getting the calls, but the people, as soon as they walk in here, they want to end it. They’re sold as soon as they walk in here, which is good.”

The rental rates for Manseau Flats are now listed at starting at $1,200 per month for a one-bedroom unit and beginning at $1,700 per month for a two-bedroom unit with leases being a minimum of one year.

“We do longer leases, but right now we’re not doing any shorter-term leases,” Bedford said. “We like to have low turnover. It keeps the hallways cleaner. It keeps the elevators from being dinged up. We like to have low turnover, which I think we’re going to see because of tenants that we have in here.”

Work continues on at the Manseau Flats, where Bedford said the project should be completed by the end of November.