Ambitious development plan back in works

Developers have reintroduced plans for a 99-acre mixed-use development north of Highway 33 and west of Northwoods Road in Saukville that they say could include an indoor sports facility, public plaza and potentially a hotel.

On Tuesday, Ian McCain, design/construction manager for Ansay Development, told a joint meeting of the Saukville Village Board and Plan Commission that the company hopes to begin construction this spring on the sprawling project, which has been redubbed Destination Saukville from its original name, Saukville Crossings.

“We’re ready to go,” he said.

McCain made it clear that he was sharing a conceptual plan for the project and that nothing had been approved by the village. 

“We’d love to get all the feedback we can,” he said.

Saukville Crossings was originally proposed about 15 years ago but shelved by the economic recession that struck in 2008.

The project area extends north from Market Street near Piggly Wiggly around the Feith Family YMCA to an area roughly across from Applewood Drive.

About 18 acres immediately north of the YMCA and on which some buildings stand are not part of the development.

About 39 acres of the project are wetlands and will include walking trails, plus a road connecting the southern and northern parts of the development, McCain said. 

The northern end will include a commercial area and medium- to high-density housing, including single-family homes and multifamily residences.

McCain told village officials that an indoor sports facility, coupled with a sports medicine office, will be located in the northwest corner of the development and that Ansay is nearing a deal with companies to develop those. 

The sports facility may be an inflatable dome, as is used in other locations, or a metal building, he added. 

Most of the meeting, however, focused on the southern end of the project, where an approximately 100-yard-long “plaza” area would include a splash pad, picnic area and a grassy field that can accommodate 500 people.

It is intended to create what McCain called a “community gathering place” for concerts, festivals and other events that the developer would build and then transfer to the village. 

It would be surrounded by mixed-use development including retail shops, offices, possibly apartments or condominiums and other facilities. 

A key to the project, McCain said, is “partnerships” the developer hopes to form with private companies, some of whom have already signed on to the project.

That includes Anita’s Gardens assisted living, which anticipates developing a 30-bed facility near the plaza, and Mel’s Charities, which would build a facility for the developmentally disabled.

The project “will provide us the opportunity to address a critical need in Ozaukee County,” Tom “Mel” Stanton, executive director of Mel’s Charities, said in a letter to village officials.

Another partner in the project, McCain said, is the YMCA and its daycare facility, which will be connected to the development by a bridge over some wetlands.

McCain said Ansay already has obtained necessary permits for work in the wetland areas, but the bridge has not yet been approved.

“The YMCA is a central part of this project,” McCain said.

Ansay also is seeking a partner to build a hotel at the west end of the plaza near I-43, McCain said.

McCain said Ansay will seek adjustments to the village’s tax incremental district (TID) plan. In a TID arrangement, property tax revenue is diverted to pay for infrastructure improvements and other costs. 

McCain said that Ansay would seek a “pay-as-you-go” TID, in which the developer pays for the improvements up front and then is reimbursed by the TID.

“We need a partnership with the village to accomplish this,” McCain said. “There’s no risk to the village.”

McCain said the project will be built in three phases, though the details of those phases aren’t set. 

He estimated that the entire project, once completed, will add $65 million to $80 million to the village tax base, not counting parts of the development not yet finalized.

McCain said a planned-unit development zoning overlay also will be required for the project, allowing greater flexibility for the developer.

No action was taken, but McCain’s presentation as generally well-received.

“I like the concept,” Village Trustee Richard Belling said. “It offers the opportunity to do a lot of different things. Overall, a very nicely laid-out plan.”

Village Planning and Development Consultant Claude Lois said the plan has “a lot of merits to it. But the devil is in the details.”