Downtown residential development in the city of Sheboygan is hugging the waterfront as formerly industrial buildings are either razed or redeveloped through adaptive reuse.
Several residential developments are under way or completed in the Water Street Neighborhood redevelopment district.
The city is actively seeking proposals from developers for a planned 22-unit townhouse development at the southeast corner of Water Street and Wisconsin Avenue.
Already completed are 24 units of senior housing, part of Waterview Apartments, which will eventually total 91 units as planned; and Riverwalk Apartments, four buildings with 70 units available to those who qualify under Wisconsin Housing and Economic Development Authority (WHEDA) income and family-size guidelines.
The Riverwalk Apartments were developed by the Gorman Company, Madison, which also operates the Garton Toy Factory Apartments — 70 residential units in a redeveloped toy factory directly on the river.
Rents in the apartments are reasonable across the board — even in the Garton Toy Factory with its river frontage, a one-bedroom apartment runs about $500 per month while a three-bedroom would be roughly $1,200.
Under way is a three-unit condo development directly on the water. The first three-unit building — one of a planned three buildings comprising Rivers Edge Homes on North Water Street — is already completed. Two units have sold.
According to the principal of the Lang Group, which is developing the condos, prices for the property were designed to present good values, and range from $175,000 to $210,000.
Each unit includes a private boat slip on the river.
"We have piers right out in back, and you can get to Lake Michigan in 10 minutes," Jay Lang said. "If you took these same condos and put them in downtown Milwaukee, they would be more than twice as much."
Lang said his group has not been working to presell the remaining condos until the city completes redevelopment of the riverfront.
"It is just an aesthetic thing," Lang said. "We want people to be able to see what they will have for a front yard."
The Rivers Edge will not be the only waterfront condos developed in Sheboygan in the near future. Between 50 and 100 condos are planned for the C. Reiss Coal property, which was purchased for redevelopment by the city in October of last year. The 50-acre peninsula between the mouth of the Sheboygan River and Lake Michigan is expected to be the home of a convention hotel and other commercial and recreational uses that leverage the waterfront location.
March 29, 2002 Small Business Times, Milwaukee
