DE PERE – A Milwaukee developer wants to build a nearly block-long, six-story building in the 100 block of N. Broadway to Front Street in downtown De Pere.
It would be on the northwest side of the roundabout, across from the Walgreens store, on Broadway’s west side and would involve tearing down the former home of the Tile & Stone Gallery and Saltbox Lighting, and the former Century Lanes bowling alley building.
It would also involve removing a 100-car parking lot behind those buildings, which city officials say hasn’t been used by more than 15 cars at a time since 1968.
“The proposal includes an urban mixed-use development consisting of 198 residential units, of which 33 are condominiums and 165 market-rate apartments, nearly 12,000 square feet of commercial space, over 250 interior parking spaces, significant residential amenities and pedestrian-focused outdoor spaces,” Mayor James Boyd told an audience of more than 200 at the annual State of De Pere address recently.
The developers say it would be built primarily of masonry with articulated brick and cement siding, would have aluminum balconies, elevated windows, walkouts and flat rooftops, and its aesthetic would complement the exterior of the Mulva Cultural Center.
The project will “provide very distinct, high-quality market-rate apartments and condominiums in downtown De Pere,” Boyd said, adding that the plan calls for the commercial spaces to include a two-story restaurant with outdoor dining on both levels overlooking the Fox River.
The developers are also talking about a swimming pool, fitness center, pet spa, patio space, grilling station, club room, golf simulator and coworking space.
The development would also offer “an enhanced landscape experience,” according to New Land’s managing director, Tim Gokhman, as well as allow strong pedestrian/public use from Broadway down to the river via a “grand staircase.”
According to Boyd, George Street would be extended to Front Street, and four additional stalls of on-street public parking would be created along Front Street and N. Broadway where the driveway entrances are now. Part of Front Street would be vacated and turned into public park space or walkway, with a separate parking lot added.
Front Street currently runs along the river, behind the Broadway buildings, from Cass Street behind the Kress Family Library southward to just beyond the Claude Allouez bridge, ending with S. Broadway at Merrill Street.
New Land Enterprises has committed to investing 0.25% of its guaranteed value into a public art component.
All in all, the development would take up about a 2.2- to 2.4-acre chunk of the downtown area, according to Development Services Director Dan Lindstrom.
Part of the site of the potential development is owned by a private party, and the City of De Pere owns another part.
Since the city doesn’t own the entire site, it couldn’t solicit requests for proposals. Lindstrom said the city and private party had been approached by two developers who wanted to create two different types of projects on that swath of land. One wanted to do a project that was 100% residential, and the other was New Land, with its idea for a mixed-use development.
Last week, the Common Council had moved the plan ahead by approving the terms of the development, including that it would benefit from funding from TIF District No. 18.
The city is also providing New Land Enterprises $12 million in incentives, including an $8.35 million project cost reimbursement grant following project milestones, and a $3.58 million PAYGO project grant in the form of a municipal revenue obligation schedule.
The project is expected to add $70 million in total assessed value, including $68.5 million in new tax increment value, to the downtown.
Gokhman described his company as specializing in market-rate mixed-used residential and commercial developments on complex sites.
In Milwaukee, New Land built one of the tallest mass timber frame buildings in the world, the 259-unit, 25-story Ascent MKE.
It’s finishing up a building in downtown Green Bay, the 250-unit NOVA GB, 215 N. Adams St., which is similar to the project it wants to do in De Pere.
Condos will range from $370,000-$950,000 with several going over $1 million. It will also feature 12 two-story townhomes facing the river and 11,900 square feet of commercial retail space.
Officially, the apartments are slated to rent at market rates, but in a memo to the Mayor and the City Manager, Lindstrom said the rents would be on the high side of market rate, if not high-end.
The project won’t include any affordable housing units, according to Lindstrom. Banks usually won’t underwrite those types of projects, he said, and even if they did, oftentimes developers would be better off putting money into a 10-year, low-yield certificate of deposit, and with less risk.
The development is expected to bring 250 to 350 new residents into the area.
During a public comment period, one woman asked how the downtown can accommodate 350 new people who will cause wear and tear on the streets and pavements.
“Everybody’s talking about the potholes and car repairs already,” she said. She also said that a six-story building would block the view of the Fox River for the rest of the residents while being used by relatively few people.
Some of the challenges the project would present include site assembly on a site that has been largely vacant for more than seven years; it would require public improvements; constructing adequate parking could be expensive; removing the aging and unused parking lot will be costly, all while trying to meet the standards of the De Pere cultural district master plan, which was adopted eight years ago.
On top of that, construction pricing and interest rates have not come down to pre-COVID levels, Lindstrom said.
A massive fire destroyed adjacent buildings, 100 and 106 N. Broadway, in 2019, and displaced 20 residents.
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