Geneva, Ill.-based Sho-Deen Construction is planning a mixed-use development for 2,000 acres the company owns in the Town of Delavan. The company has begun preliminary talks about the development with town officials. The project would include single-family homes, multi-family units, office buildings, light industrial buildings, stores, a resort and possibly a golf course. Details about how many homes and how much commercial space would be built have not been determined yet, said Dave Patzelt, president of construction for Sho-Deen.
The property is roughly bounded by Interstate 43 on the north, Highway 67 on the east, County Trunk Highway F on the west and Highway 50 on the southwest. "We believe that area could be a suburb of Milwaukee, which is about a 30 to 40 minute trip up I-43," Patzelt said. "It’s also a reasonable trip to Chicago and the northern and western suburbs (of Chicago). There’s a lot of seasonal living in the area. We figure there will be both full-time residents, as well as seasonal residents (buying homes in the development)." Sho-Deen plans to develop office buildings and light industrial facilities on the property along I-43. Retail development and small offices, such as medical offices, are planned along Town Hall Road.
"We envision Town Hall Road being the future town center of the Town of Delavan," Patzelt said.
Sho-Deen’s plans also include a resort hotel and possibly a golf course. The Lake Geneva and Delavan areas are popular visitor destinations, especially for Chicago area residents, but it is also a competitive market for hotels and for golf courses. Lake Lawn Resort in Delavan, is beginning a major renovation and expansion project. That $390 million development will add 1,000 guest suites, increasing its room count to 1,222. The Lake Lawn project also includes a 130,000-square-foot indoor water park, a 165-slip marina and boardwalk with a festival retail complex, a 30,000-square-foot spa, a 150,000-square-foot conference center, a redesigned golf course with a new clubhouse and five new restaurants.
Schaumburg, Ill.-based Wight Realty Group plans to totally rebuild the Hillmoor Golf Club in Lake Geneva. That development will include 278 homes and a 100-room hotel. Sho-Deen is the same firm that proposed a development with 2,000 to 3,000 homes on a 947-acre property adjacent to the Village of Walworth in Walworth County. That property is located southeast of the village between Ridge Road on the west and Walworth-Linn Road on the east. The development also could include a golf course, hotel and commercial buildings. The project would double the geographic size of the village and could quadruple its population of about 2,500.
However, some Walworth officials and residents have objected to the housing density of the proposed development. To address the concerns about the impact of the developments, Patzelt says it will take about 20 years to fully develop the Walworth project and 25 to 30 years to fully develop the Delavan project. About 40 percent of the Delavan property would be kept as open space, Patzelt said. As the Milwaukee and Chicago areas continue to grow, Walworth County officials may have to get used to reviewing plans to develop the county’s open spaces. "We’re in southeast Wisconsin, which is being developed all around us at a rapid rate," said Delavan Town Board Chairman John Pelletier.
Pleasant Prairie
A Kenosha County real estate developer said that Abbot Park, Ill.-based Abbott Laboratories plans to build a facility west of I-94 near Highway 165 in Pleasant Prairie. Pleasant Prairie Village President Michael Pollocoff declined to confirm or deny the report. "I really can’t comment on that," he said. "We don’t comment on rumors of real estate transactions," said Jonathan Hamilton, spokesman for Abbot Labs. Abbott Labs develops and manufactures health care products.
Hubertus
Jerry Munley, Kari Davidson and Bob and Annie Wells recently opened Cold Spring Inn (www.coldspringinn.com), a three-room bed and breakfast inn at 1033 Plat Road in Hubertus.
Munley and Davidson are living in the home and Bob and Annie Wells live in a home on an adjacent property.
"We’ve taken two-and-a-half years out of our life to build this," Munley said. "It’s been quite an investment."
All three of the rooms have their own fireplaces. Two of the rooms, which cost $289 a night, have private bathrooms with hot tubs. The third room, which costs $129 a night, does not have a private bathroom.
"They are beautiful rooms," Munley said. "Our business style is to go for the high end customer, with amenities like a high-end resort, not like a typical bed and breakfast."
Cold Spring Inn has a 25- by 18-foot tropical greenhouse, were guests eat their gourmet breakfasts.
The home sits on an 89-acre property with a private woodland and a prairie nature preserve. The property has walking and cross-country skiing trails, a waterfall, a 258-vine vineyard, a pond stocked with fish with a pier and a rowboat, a tennis court, a par 3 golf hole and a half-acre organic vegetable garden. The property also has a farm with goats and chickens. Next year they plan to add a horse, Munley said.
The property is located in the heart of the hilly Kettle Moraine area. The natural elements will be major attractions for guests, Munley said.
"It’s only a half-hour from Milwaukee, and it looks like you were in Minoqua or Eagle River," he said. "You can get off of work Friday and be here early Friday night."
Tourist attractions such as Holy Hill and the Erin Hills Golf Course, which will open next year, will also attract visitors. Cold Spring Inn will provide guests with valet service to the golf course, Munley said.
New Berlin
Steve Stewart, president and CEO of Milwaukee-based Investors Equity LLC, plans to develop a five-acre property located just west of the Culver’s restaurant at 14855 W. National Avenue and near the City Center development, which is located south of National Avenue and east of Moorland Road. Stewart is a partner in the City Center project. On the adjacent five-acre property, he plans to build five retail buildings with a total of 25,000 to 30,000 square feet of space and about 18 condominiums on top of one of the retail buildings. Stewart’s new project still must be approved by New Berlin officials.
Hintzke & Associates Inc., a tax services and advisory firm, plans to move from 10617 W. Oklahoma Ave., West Allis, to a 6,700-square-foot office building at 14775 W. National Ave., which will be built near the City Center development. Hintzke will occupy about 2,400 square feet of space in the building, which is expected to be completed in May.
Pewaukee
A groundbreaking ceremony was held recently for KB Pewaukee LLC’s development of a two-story 25,000-square-foot class A office building on a vacant lot at N35 W 23878 Capitol Drive. Brookfield-based Total Team Construction LLC is the general contractor for the project and the architect is Torke Wirth Pujara Ltd. Foundations Bank, a newly formed bank currently located at N35 W23770 Capitol Drive will occupy the building’s entire 12,500-square-foot first floor. The building will include a veterans memorial with a bell tower, and a shagbark hickory tree over 100 years old that will be preserved. More than 40 trees from the site will be removed and donated to local parks. The project is expected to be complete next summer. Once it is complete KB Pewaukee LLC plans to build a second two-story, 25,000-square-foot class A office building at the site.
Lake Geneva
White Plains, N.Y.-based Nine West Group Inc. plans to open a store in a 2,400-square-foot space in the Newport West Shops, which are being built at 831-865 Main Street by Lake Geneva-based Keefe & Associates Inc. Nine West sells footwear, clothing and accessories at its own retail and outlet stores and in department stores. Chicago-based Potbelly Sandwich Works also plans to occupy space in Newport West. Potbelly has locations in Madison, Brookfield and downtown Milwaukee.
Menomonee Falls
Oconomowoc-based Four Leaf Development and Wauwatosa-based Spectrum Development plan to develop a 52-acre site on vacant land at the southeast corner of Good Hope and Pilgrim roads. Four Leaf purchased the land from the Gross family and sold nine acres to Spectrum. Brookfield-based Apex Commercial Inc. brokered both of the land sales. Spectrum plans to build two retail buildings, a 12,000-square-foot multi-tenant retail building and two 5,000-square-foot single tenant retail buildings. Four Leaf plans to build 132 condominiums on 43 acres, most in four-plex buildings. The condos will cost between $209,900 and $269,900. The company expects most of the buyers to be active empty nesters who don’t want a single-family home anymore, but still want to live in Menomonee Falls, said Four Leaf principal John Wahlen said. "We expect 70 to 80 percent of the residents to be active adults," he said. "People who want to stay in the area. They don’t want to change where they live, but they want to change the way they live." The development, which will be called Pilgrim Glen, will also include a four-acre park with an amphitheater with grass and bench seating, a swimming pool, walking trails with boardwalks over wetlands and a clubhouse with a pool table, a fireplace, a kitchen and meeting rooms. More information is available at (www.pilgrimglen.com).
Greenfield
PetsMart plans to demolish the former Chi-Chi’s restaurant at 5005 S. 74th St. and build a new 20,000-square-foot store at the site. Phoenix-based PetsMart has more than 700 pet superstores in the U.S. and Canada. PetsMart has six stores in Wisconsin, but none in the metro Milwaukee area.
Franklin-based Mark Carstensen & Developments Inc. plans to build a three-story, 30,000-square-foot office building on a vacant six-acre property at 4600 W. Loomis Road. Greater Milwaukee Otolaryngology Milwaukee LLC would be the anchor tenant. Carstensen also plans to build another three-story, 30,000-square-foot second phase next to the building, that would be attached on the south side of the first phase and would create a 60,000-square-foot structure.
Best Buy plans to demolish an office building at 7424 W. Layton Ave. to create a second entrance to its store and more parking. Home Instead Senior Care, located next door at 7406 W. Layton Ave., would share some of the parking with Best Buy. Home Instead plans to build a two-story 12,000-square-foot office building to replace its smaller current building, which will be demolished.
Kenosha
Construction of the Club at Strawberry Creek is complete, and the golf course will formally open next spring. The 33,000-square-foot clubhouse is scheduled to open in 2007. "We are very excited that the Club at Strawberry Creek will be in prime condition the day we have our grand opening next spring," said developer Barry Shiffman, whose co-developer is former All Pro Chicago Bears center Jay Hilgenberg. "(Course architect) Rick Jacobson’s first original 18-hole course in the Chicago-Milwauakee metropolitan area is sure to bolster his reputation as one of this generation’s top golf course architects." The club is located on Highway 50 two miles west of Interstate 94. The development also includes a 385-acre residential project, which will feature 326 single family residences, including 62 custom home sites; 336 town homes and condominiums, and 264 luxury apartments. More information is available at www.strawberrycreekclub.com.
Milwaukee
The City of Milwaukee has issued a request for proposal (RFP) for a 16,517-square-foot lot at 2574-90 N. Downer Ave. on the city’s east side. The triangular-shaped property is currently used mostly as a surface parking lot. The city’s asking price for the property is $350,000. The city is seeking a proposed development with retail use on the first floor and commercial or residential uses on the upper floors. Proposals must be submitted to the Department of City Development by Dec. 1.
