City considers offer on police, fire station land

The Port Washington Common Council on Tuesday met in closed session to consider an offer to purchase the properties currently occupied by the city’s police and fire departments when they move to the new public safety building, and in an open session afterward aldermen authorized the city attorney to continue negotiations with PFD Redevelopment.

Aldermen have not publicly discussed the redevelopment plans submitted by PFD Redevelopment or proposals from two other firms — Ansay Development and Neumann Companies— or weighed in on why PFD Redevelopment’s proposal is the only one under consideration.

This was the third time the Common Council met in closed session to consider the redevelopment proposals, which were submitted to the city in September. Aldermen have yet to discuss the proposal in an open meeting.

PFD Redevelopment — an entity comprised of Fine Line Carpentry of Port Washington and two partners, Paul Schueller and Peter Herrmann, who each own houses next to the site — is the only company that submitted a proposal to make an offer to purchase the property, City Attorney Matt Nugent said.

“Discussions with the other two never got to the point where they felt comfortable submitting an offer to purchase,” Nugent said.

Nugent would not comment on the specifics of the offer to purchase. Ozaukee Press’ request for the offer to purchase was denied by Nugent.

The city’s request for proposals for the 1.56-acre police and fire station site at the corner of West Washington and North Wisconsin streets did not list a purchase price, instead calling it “negotiable.”

Discussions with PFD Redevelopment were “more substantial” than with the other firms, Nugent said.

The PFD Redevelopment proposal calls for the creation of The Seven Hills Collection, which would have 20 townhouses in nine buildings — eight buildings of two units and one of four units — with a public courtyard and green space.

Four different, complementary designs would be used for the buildings, which would vary from three to four stories. Units would range from 2,175 square feet to 2,817 square feet.

The proposal calls for construction to begin in November with completion in the spring of 2029, with the completed value of the project set at $16 million.

The proposal assumes that the city would pay to bury the power lines along the perimeter of the property.

Nick Suddendorf, co-owner of Fine Line Carpentry, said Tuesday that PFD Redevelopment’s offer to purchase the land is based on a city appraisal of the site as a buildable lot minus the cost to remove the buildings.

Nugent said the Common Council had authorized city staff members to negotiate with the developers in December.

He would not comment on why PFD Redevelopment’s proposal has apparently garnered favor with the Common Council, but stressed that aldermen aren’t dealing with the actual development proposal at this point.

“We’re dealing with the sale of the land, not the development,” Nugent said. “Obviously those are intertwined.

“This signals a general approval of the general proposal, but there are a lot of decisions that have to be made yet.”

The public will have a chance to comment on PFD Redevelopment’s proposal as it moves through the city’s approval process, with appearances before the Design Review Board and Plan Commission, he added.

Nugent said the process has moved slowly in part because the police and fire departments still occupy the site and will continue to until sometime this summer.

Suddendorf said that Tuesday’s closed session felt like the first meaningful step in the process.

“We’d be excited to do this. I grew up three blocks away (from the site). Brad and Amanda (Williams, his partners) live right around the corner. It’s important to us,” he said.

The company has done numerous infill projects in the city, Suddendorf added.

While some of the numbers in the proposal may have to be updated, he added, it shouldn’t greatly affect the plan.

“The cost of everything’s going up, but so have home prices. We definitely believe in our plan.”

Ansay Development had proposed a 20-townhouse development for the police and fire station site. The design called for two building types, three-story, 2,260-square-foot townhouses with covered garages and two-story, 1700-square-foot townhouses with attached garages.

Green space and a patio were to be in the center of the development.

Ansay offered two development paths for the proposal — one that would provide market rate housing with an average price of $700,000 for each townhouse.  The completed value would be $10 million to $13 million.

The second option would provide affordable housing, with the average sale price of $438,000, but this plan would have required $3.5 million in tax incremental financing for the project. The completed value would be $7 million to $8.5 million.

The company said it would pay $350,000 for the land in either case, reflecting the fact it said it would cost about $400,000 to demolish the existing structures.

Neumann Companies provided a plan for 18 condominium units to be built — two five-unit buildings fronting Wisconsin Street and one four-unit building each along Washington and Jackson streets.

The buildings would be two to three stories, and the units would range from 1,400 to 1,900 square feet. Prices would begin in the high $400,000s.

Neumann stressed that the plan was designed to preserve natural features of the site, including the scenic overlook.