This story is part of "Southeastern Wisconsin's changing landscapes: Then, now and what's next," a feature in the 30th anniversary issue of BizTimes Milwaukee, published on March 17. Find coverage of more areas in the region here or paid subscribers can see the full feature in the digital edition of the magazine.
Once a bedroom community of single-family homes and a small but charming downtown, development has taken off in Oconomowoc with thousands of housing units and hundreds of thousands of square feet of retail and industrial space built and proposed.
Roundy’s opened a 1.1 million-square-foot distribution center in 2005 and the Lake Country DockHounds baseball team opened a 2,500-seat stadium in 2022, to name a few catalytic projects. Several companies have established operations in Oconomowoc and developers from around the region and beyond have vied for properties to develop.
However, for all the plans that have come to fruition, some plans never did, such as a regional mall planned at the Pabst Farms development and other once-proposed retail and hotels.
Further, all the multifamily development over the years has earned the community the name of “O-condo-mowoc” by some and has irked some elected officials to the point that last year the city implemented a new housing ratio that capped multifamily development, which stalled several planned projects.
Still, with ongoing redevelopment of the former Olympia Resort site, Pabst Farms site and the historic downtown, there’s enough projects already in the pipeline that population and vibrancy will continue to grow in Oconomowoc for the foreseeable future, city officials forecast.
