By Ben Rodgers
Editor
HOBART – After meeting in closed session Sept. 1, the Hobart village board approved a developer agreement to bring a multi-million-dollar development to Centennial Centre.
The agreement is with New Wall Street Properties LLC, a group of Green Bay-based investors, who are planning to build a four-story, 38-unit condominium building called The Highlander.
Groundbreaking for the 69,000-square-foot, $8.9 million building is tentatively scheduled to take place in November along Centerline Drive.
“We’re definitely excited about it,” said Bernie Van Eperen, partner with New Wall Street Properties. “We’re hoping, if we can do it right and everything falls in place, it should be a good bookend, a good face for Hobart because it’s right next to (State) Highway 29. It’ll be a nice structure to showcase Hobart.”
Van Eperen said Centennial Centre is a prime location, because once completed, the Highway 29/County VV interchange will make it possible to get to Lambeau Field in about 12 minutes.
Plus, he said there are not many condominium developments outside of the metro area, and people are asking for them.
“We’re seeing more and more of a need for it, and more people inquiring about it,” Van Eperen said. “It’s relatively new to the Green Bay area. There’s not a lot of condo development and definitely not a lot in the outskirts. There’s more located in downtown.”
Unlike other condo developments, he said the Highlander will allow buyers to customize units in terms of appliances, counter surfaces and more.
For example, if a buyer wants to upgrade their kitchen with Viking appliances or a larger stove, they would have the ability to do that. Same goes for granite countertops instead of linoleum.
“We like to keep the flexibility, so if somebody is going to buy a condo, they can make it the way they want it, to a point,” Van Eperen said.
He said sizes will range from roughly 950 square feet for a one-bedroom unit, up to roughly 1,700 for a three-bedroom unit.
Van Eperen said each of the four floors in the Highlander will have a common area.
He said there will also be a workout room/yoga studio and a party room themed like an Irish bar.
Van Eperen said a gathering space could also come to the roof.
“The main thing was we wanted it large enough to make it feel like a community, and also economies of scale, once you’re out there working, yes, you’re adding more expense and more risk, but it’s not as much if you were just trying to build a smaller 12- or 20-unit project,” Van Eperen said. “We like the idea of having it big enough to make it feel like a community.”
He said New Wall Street Properties hasn’t signed a contract yet with a real estate company, but that should be coming in the next few weeks, and then a website will be launched so people interested in the Highlander can get more information.
In the meantime, Van Eperen said people who are interested should contact Bayland Buildings.
“To say we are excited to see this newest addition coming to Centennial Centre would be an understatement,” said Village Administrator Aaron Kramer. “Once again, Brian Peters and Bayland Buildings have hit a home run, bringing to Hobart a group of individuals who see the potential of that area in Hobart and worked extremely well with our pro-growth philosophy. The size of this project will make it one of our more visible developments, especially as one drives on Highway 29 going into or coming out of Green Bay. We look forward to the groundbreaking later this year.”
Kramer said construction could be completed by summer 2021.
In other news, the board also accepted the retirement of Lorie Francar as police clerk, effective Jan. 9, and approved the option to purchase with KES Commercial Properties LLC for the village property located at 4758 Forest Road.