The Wisconsin Economic Development Corp. is providing the city of Delavan with a $250,000 grant that will help finance the redevelopment of the historic downtown George W. Borg Corp. facility, also known as the Bergamot Brass building, into a mixed-use building known as Brass Works Apartments.
The $16 million redevelopment of the building at 820 E. Wisconsin St. will include the creation of 73 loft-style workforce housing units as well as 1,000 square feet of street-level commercial space. WEDC is providing money to the project through its Community Development Investment Grant Program, according to a news release.
The project will completely renovate the 75-year-old industrial building, which was constructed in 1943 with a third-story addition built in 1956. It originally housed an armaments factory that made fuses during World War II.
Renovation work to the building includes a complete gutting of the structure, full structural stabilization, window replacement, a new roof and environmental remediation. The project developer is Fox Point-based General Capital Group.
“General Capital is grateful to WEDC for its support of the Brass Works Apartments,” Sig Strautmanis, partner at General Capital, said in the release. “This is a very complicated adaptive reuse project with numerous layers of financing. Each piece is critical to bringing this project to fruition.”
Once finished, the Brass Works Apartments will be just a short walk from the city’s downtown business district and will mark the first new multi-family development in the area.
Delevan Mayor Mel Nieuwenhuis noted the community has been focused on revitalizing the downtown area for the last several years.
“Each new project adds to the vibrant fabric of our community,” Nieuwenhuis said in the release. “In this case, the historic Borg building would have faced an uncertain future without the direct investment of the city and WEDC.”
The WEDC grant program supports community development and redevelopment efforts, primarily in downtown areas. Matching grants are awarded based on the ability of applicants to show the economic impact the proposed projects would have.
Since the program was formed in 2013, WEDC has awarded more than $24 million in grants to 101 communities for projects expected to generate more than $500 million in capital investments statewide.
