Nearly 60 acres of the Pabst Farms area in Oconomowoc could be developed with apartments, retail, office space, restaurants and a 320,000-square-foot innovation hub under plans submitted to the city by an Illinois development firm.
Illinois-based Wingspan Development Group and its affiliate construction company Nicholas & Associates presented the plans to Oconomowoc’s Common Council this week. Wingspan purchased the 59 acres of vacant land, located near I-94 and Highway 67, for $12.3 million in March.
The plans include a 320,000-square-foot innovation hub, 82,800 square feet of retail and office space, 171 apartments and 26,000 square feet of drive-thru restaurant space. Council members were impressed with the proposal, but expressed some concern about filling all of the space.
“I’m bringing a vision to you tonight that we believe will succeed in today’s retail and commercial real estate environment,” said Chris Coleman, vice president of development for Wingspan. “…We believe there is strong market demand for each component, that is the appropriate scale for us to execute.”
“I have a level of comfort and trust that you are going to try to do it to this level, but I want you to be prepared that we are going to hold you accountable for that,” Mayor Robert Magnus said.
The land requires no infrastructure improvements on behalf of the city and requests for tax incremental financing are not anticipated for this project, according to Bob Duffy, economic development director.
Pending city approval, construction could start next year.
Innovation hub
At the south end of the property, along I-94, would be the largest portion of the development: a technology and innovation hub.
The hub would consist of four buildings, each 80,000 square feet. This space would be designed to include offices, research areas, showrooms or storage. One of the buildings would include a 20,000-square-foot “makers space,” which Coleman described as a launching pad for students or entrepreneurs where they can develop their ideas.
In the meeting, Coleman announced that if the project moves forward, Winspan and Nicholas & Associates would move their Milwaukee area offices to one of these buildings and occupy around 40,000 square feet. Currently, the companies are located in Milwaukee near American Family Field.
Amenities around the hub would include courtyards, pickleball courts and a fishing pier, among others.
Residential and retail
Along Pabst Farms Boulevard, Wingspan is proposing two retail buildings, which Coleman said could be used as food halls, separated by a courtyard with games such as giant chess. These two buildings would have about 28,000 square feet of space.
Across a parking lot would be two mixed-use buildings with about 22,000 square feet of ground-floor retail space with two floors of residential above.
The intention is to create a “town center” which encourages people to gather and spend time at the establishments.
“Our whole vision is pedestrian-friendly,” Colemans said. “We don’t want to just put areas on a plan and call them out. We want our outdoor spaces to engage our residents, our tenants and our visitors. We want them to be used. We want them to be activated.”
There would also be three other three-story apartment buildings with a clubhouse.
Throughout the presentation, Coleman emphasized that the development’s high quality design will help make it successful.
“There’s no reason that you would put a raised metal seam roof on the back of a clubhouse unless great finishes were important to you,” Coleman said as an example.
Drive-thru restaurants and office
On the western portion of the property, near a Fleet Farm store, would be two drive thru restaurant establishments and two mixed-use buildings with space for retail on the first floor and office space on the second.
The retail and office buildings would have about 33,000 square feet of space.
