New apartments approved by Sturgeon Bay will bring hundreds of housing units to the city

STURGEON BAY - The City Council approved two new housing developments that are expected to bring about 300 more apartment units to the city within the next two years.

The council signed off on agreements in its June 19 meeting with Duquaine Development of Green Bay for a 68-unit complex that could expand to 120 units in the future and with PRE/3 of Brookfield for a 96-unit development. Both will be located near the Target store on the city's south side, the Duquaine project north of the store and the PRE/3 project east of it, between the store and Duluth Avenue.

The Duquaine project actually is in the town of Nasewaupee, but the city has an annexation agreement with the town that takes effect when the apartments are completed.

Work on the PRE/3 project is expected to start within the next month and Duquaine already has begun some preliminary work such as rock blasting. Mayor David Ward said the apartments likely would be on the market by the end of 2023. Ward said rent for apartments at both sites would be at market rate; representative of the developers previously indicated the Duquaine apartments would probably rent for a little less, about $800 to $1,000 a month, than the PRE/3 apartments.

The city created a new tax incremental financing district, TIF 7, to provide financial incentives for the PRE/3 project, which will have a minimum taxable value of $8.8 million. The city is offering $750,000 in incentives for the Duquaine project, with $275,000 coming from American Rescue Plan Act (ARPA) funds and $475,000 from the city's affordable housing fund, with most of it related to sewer and water infrastructure work, Ward said. That project is expected to have a minimum taxable value of $6.5 million.

The two newly approved projects combined with other previous development agreements means work is expected to start next month on what will become 190 new units in the city.

Ward noted that developers have 107 other apartment units and one single-family house already under construction and expected to be completed, or nearly so, between the end of the year and spring 2023. Those include the long-awaited redevelopment of the long-vacant West Side Elementary School into 15 units of affordable housing, an additional 10 townhouses to the existing Maritime Heights development and 26 units for SCS Sunset Estates at the site of the former Sunset Elementary School.

Speaking to the Advocate, Ward said the run of new housing developments in the city helps fulfill a goal from a 2019 study that showed a deficit of hundreds of housing units, especially workforce and affordable units, in Sturgeon Bay. He also noted it could help attract new businesses because of the availability of housing for their workers.

"I think this is one of those classic cases where a study really meant something," Ward said. "These developers don't drop $8 million to $12 million without doing their homework. I think this bodes well for Sturgeon Bay to support additional businesses (who) will need to have a certain amount of rooftops in the city."

Contact Christopher Clough at 920-741-7952, 920-562-8900 or cclough@doorcountyadvocate.com.

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