Mequon’s Town Center project, which the city and town of Thiensville have discussed since 2002, may finally take its first steps forward soon.
In five to six weeks, Insight Development Group, a Mequon-based developer, expects to begin work on a $20 million project slated for the 3.3-acre former Thermoset property at 6411 W. Mequon Road. The plan calls for four buildings, three of which will be new to the site.
Mequon’s Town Center area is planned to be along Main Street from Mequon Road to Freistadt Road on the north. City officials have said previously that they want it to be a mixture of residential, retail and office uses.
“This will be the first substantial element of the Mequon Town Center,” said Dennis Bush, partner with Insight Development Group. “We want this to reflect all of the elements that the city wants to have in its Town Center.”
When completed, the project’s new buildings will include: a three-story, 32-unit condominium structure; a 36,000-square-foot, two-story office, retail and clinic structure; and a 7,200-square-foot retail building.
Its centerpiece will be the restored 6,500-square-foot former Jung Brewery, built in the mid 1800s. The restored building will house a pub, coffee house, sales office for the condos and Insight’s offices, Bush said.
All of the new buildings will look similar to the brewery, Bush said.
“All materials in the new buildings will be similar to the brewery, and all architecture will be reflective of the brewery building,” he said.
The former brewery will be the first project within the development. Insight is still talking with potential tenants for the pub area, Bush said.
“We want someone with experience that can do a really great job,” he said. “The people we’re talking to are thinking about doing a regular pub or an Irish pub, a brew pub or even a micro brewery.”
Architectural drawings are being drafted by Mayer Helminiak Architects and work will begin when they are completed. Bush expects his company to be in its new offices by this summer.
“I’d like to be in there by May,” he said.
While renovations are being done to the former brewery building, several former industrial buildings on the property will be torn down, and preliminary streetscaping will be done, Bush said. Planning for the project’s condos will begin while the brewery is being renovated, but the condos will not break ground until at least 10 units are sold.
The condo building will be behind the brewery, and will have 12 units on its first two floors, with eight units on its third floor. The condos will range in size from 1,000 to 2,000 square feet and from $250,000 to more than $400,000, Bush said.
Insight has hired CB Richard Ellis to find tenants for its retail and office spaces, Bush said. Insight is now talking to several potential tenants for the 7,200-square-foot retail building.
“We’ll build that when we have a tenant, because we’ll build it for their use,” Bush said. The larger retail, office and clinic building will be built in the same manner, he said.
Insight is known for residential developments in Mequon and has developed hundreds of lots in the last 20 years, Bush said. The development at the former brewery site is a chance to do something different that would have an impact on Mequon’s downtown.
“I was looking for something that had a legacy to it,” Bush said. “I wanted to do something with the Town Center. That site (the Thermoset site), because of the historical brewery, is large enough to be a beachhead (for the Town Center).”
Key Ozaukee county projects:
• The Highway 60 and I-43 interchange in Grafton, remains the hottest retail development area in Ozaukee County. A Kohl’s store will open this year in the Grafton Commons development, located northwest of the interchange. On the east side of the freeway, West Bend-based Design and Build Inc. and Kraig Sadownikow plan to build a four-story, 83-room Hampton Inn & Suites hotel. The project will also include a Water Street Brewery restaurant, similar to Water Street Brewery’s location in Delafield, and a BP gas station.
• Residential Homes of America and E.J. Plesko and Associates Inc., plans to redevelop the Manchester Mall property in Grafton. The redevelopment will include 14.5 acres of commercial development and 8.3 acres of residential development. The commercial development will consist of a 60,692-square-foot Pick ‘n Save grocery store and 11,400 square feet of multi-tenant retail space.
• Aurora Health Care and Advanced Healthcare plan to build a four-story, 480,000-square-foot regional medical center in Grafton on a 105-acre plot northwest of the intersection of Highway 60 and Port Washington Road. The medical center will have a 400,000-square-foot hospital and a 80,000-square-foot medical office building.
• Mequon Park Corp., an affiliate of Towne Realty, plans to build a $20 million, 40-unit senior condo project near Market Street and Mequon Road. The project has not yet received city approval.
