Planners in the city of West Bend are working on details regarding unit density and price point for a residential redevelopment project in a 12-acre Tax Incremental Finance (TIF) district adjacent to the city’s downtown.
The city is now in the process of purchasing properties in a seven-acre area east of downtown on Wisconsin Street, and has closed on three properties currently in warehouse and industrial use. Demolition of properties should begin in the spring, and administrator Dennis Melvin said the city is currently discussing potential mixed uses on the site with developers.
Community Development Planner Julie Licht said the city would send out a request for proposals to developers this spring and hopes to see construction start in 2003. The vast majority of the property will be a combination of standalone and multifamily, but the percentage of each and the determination of how many units would be condominiums and how many would be rental units had not yet been made.
The project will entail remediating some petroleum-contaminated soils and dealing with asbestos and lead paint in the existing structures.
The city is currently working with Canadian National — the new owners of Wisconsin Central railroad — to relocate a rail yard at the site. The rail yard may become part of the Rails to Trails program, which turns abandoned rail lines into pedestrian and bicycle trails, but Licht indicated the site was also being eyed by the Department of Transportation as a route for a potential high-speed rail line.
Licht said the city is currently evaluating four different concept plans for development of TIF #5, and she expects specific aspects of each plan will be incorporated. Public input was solicited through direct mail questionnaires to residents in the neighborhood and through meetings with the Common Council Plan Commission, West Bend Economic Development Corp. and other local entities. Once consensus on the nature of the development is reached, a request for proposals will be sent to developers.
The density of the development will be a crucial factor, as those who live near the area in a residential district to the northeast favor lower-density development while commercial interests in the downtown favor higher density, which would deliver more expendable income.
"West Bend is a mostly a residential, low-density area," Licht said. "They wanted lower density, smaller buildings. They wanted open spaces. That is considered one of our greatest amenities."
"We would prefer higher density," Theresa Fuerbringer, director of West Bend Downtown said. "Perhaps something higher-end. We have enough affordable and lower-income single-family residences. But maybe if we had condos with maybe more separate buildings — maybe some side-by-sides."
Licht indicated the direction taken would probably be a moderate-density development appealing to people in a variety of income levels and age groups.
"We are looking upwards of 150 to 200 units," Licht said. "That many units right next to the downtown — we hope that would help the businesses. We really want a mixed development — one that would not exclude any income bracket."
Downtown affected by residential
The downtown, which benefits from West Bend’s Main Street designation through the state Department of Commerce, is seeking balance between service businesses and retail, according to Fuerbringer. In the 1980s, many of the downtown retailers, including a J.C. Penney, moved to Paradise Mall and other locations near Highway 45, according to Fuerbringer. Service businesses filled in the gaps, and the downtown now boasts an occupancy rate of around 80%. Three new restaurants have moved to the downtown, including Januli’s, an Italian eatery; Jalisco’s, which features Mexican cuisine; and Muddy’s on Main, a Cajun establishment.
That concentration of restaurants is in line with the results of a market study completed in July of 2001 by the Downtown West Bend Study Group. The group held focus groups of those living and working around the downtown and found ethnic restaurants were at the top of the list of desired services in the downtown. Other recreational venues were also mentioned and, as new residential developments come online, attracting these businesses will be key, according to Fuerbringer.
Other residential downtown
This will not be the first residential redevelopment project near the downtown — nor the last. Just east of TIF #5 is the Enger-Kress building — a tannery turned into senior apartments. Now dubbed River Bend Apartment Homes, the masonry structure houses 52 rental units.
The city is also in the preliminary stages of redeveloping 900,000 square feet of space vacated by West Bend Company and its new owners, Illinois Tool Works (ITW).
Buildings on the 20-plus-acre site, which is east of the Milwaukee River adjacent to the downtown, would remain intact and redeveloped through adaptive reuse. According to Licht, the city is still determining what its role in the project would be and what the breakdown of what residential versus commercial uses will be.
March 29, 2002 Small Business Times, Milwaukee
