Wangard Partners Inc. is looking to expand its
Highlands Business Park in Sussex by approximately 40 acres, which would allow another roughly 600,000 square feet of industrial development.
Wauwatosa-based Wangard is developing the business park, which started at 149 acres, northwest of Highway 164 and Highway K.
It has been working on the expansion for about a year,
Matt Moroney, president of Wangard, said. The additional land was in the town of Lisbon, but has since been brought into the village to facilitate the expansion. Wangard acquired the land in late February, he said.
"Overall, Waukesha County market studies indicate that there's a need for additional industrial properties in the marketplace," Moroney said. "We've received a strong interest, once COVID has kind of subsided especially, in the (business) park. We feel it's a great time to move forward with the expansion."
Wangard has landed one industrial tenant so far, Menomonee Falls-based
Adron Tool Corp. It is building an approximately 100,000-square-foot facility there.
Wangard is also in talks with a potential second industrial user, Ryan Holzhauer, Wangard's director of industrial development and acquisitions, said. It has also gotten interest from some users looking to lease space in a multi-tenant facility. Wangard could develop a multi-tenant industrial building once it has commitments for at least 50% of the space, said Holzhauer.
The village could support the business park expansion through tax incremental financing.
It is proposing to spend about $2.43 million for the work, according to village documents. Jeremy Smith, Sussex village administrator, said that money would pay for infrastructure work at the site, such as utilities, storm-water systems and roads.
The spending plan is headed for a public hearing on Tuesday.
There's more being developed here than just industrial buildings. Land at the southeast corner of the development site are slated for retail uses. It has a
new Kwik Trip and is slated to get an
Educators Credit Union branch. There's room for another retail project, likely a single-tenant location, said Holzhauer.
Wangard also plans to sell about 34 acres at the northwest corner of the site, along Richmond Road, for a residential subdivision, Moroney said.
