By Christopher Bennett
Correspondent
The City of Muskego won the lottery, and its winnings will eventually lead to more than $500,000 long after the dust settles on the Parkland Mall project.
On July 21 the Wisconsin Economic Development Corporation (WEDC) announced the five communities that will receive $2.3 million in state grants to help redevelop abandoned industrial sites throughout Wisconsin.
Muskego learned it will receive $500,000 to aid in the redevelopment efforts on the site of the Parkland Mall. Muskego’s Community Development Director Jeff Muenkel said the city is the only community in southeast Wisconsin to receive a grant.
“This is pretty amazing news,” Muenkel said. “We’ve been working on the redeveloping the Parkland Mall area for more than a decade.”
According to a press release from WEDC, the Idle Industrial Sites Redevelopment Program, created in 2013, stimulates investment and job creation in idle, abandoned and underutilized manufacturing sites that cannot be solely redeveloped by the private sector due to their scale and complexity.
The grants may be used for demolition, environmental remediation or site-specific improvements defined in the community’s redevelopment plan. The goal of the program is to advance the site to shovel-ready status or to enhance the site’s market attractiveness to encourage business growth.
Since the program’s inception, it has provided $10.8 million in grants to 15 municipalities statewide.
Muskego’s Common Council approved the project and accompanying Tax Increment Finance District (TIF) earlier this year, and construction is underway.
Muenkel said the council’s budgeting for the project did not include the $500,000 in grant dollars. At the time, the council did not know Muskego would receive the grant.
The city now needs to put forth $500,000 less in taxpayer dollars for the project. The TIF will also now expire a year sooner than otherwise anticipated.
Infrastructure work and the first apartment building are under construction at the Parkland Mall site. The new development is located on several acres on Janesville Road between Lannon Drive and Parkland Drive.
The new development will be called Parkland Towne Center. The $34 million project will include a new Sendik’s Food Market grocery store, 90 units of housing and 53,000 square feet of commercial space.
The mall is in the heart of downtown Muskego, and has been vacant since 1998. Muenkel said construction is expected to be complete sometime in 2017.
“This is one of the last pieces of the puzzle to really redevelop our downtown,” Muenkel said. “We’ve been wanting to move this forward any way possible.”
Madison and Kimberly also received $500,000 grants. Green Bay received $435,000 and Oshkosh was awarded $375,000
The state’s $2.3 million investment is expected to help spur redevelopment projects that ultimately will generate nearly $150 million in capital investment, according to the WEDC.
“Some of these vacant sites have been eyesores for over a decade and have stood in the way of efforts by these communities to revitalize the areas around them,” said Mark Hogan, secretary and CEO of WEDC. “Through this program, WEDC, local officials and the private sector are working together to help ensure these now-vacant properties will once again become vibrant cornerstones of their communities.”
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