Construction costs continue to delay Blues Factory

Don’t expect to see construction of the controversial Blues Factory development on Port Washington’s lakefront this summer.

“We’re focused on next spring,” developer Gertjan van den Broek said Tuesday. “We’re not putting shovel to the ground this spring.”

The increasing cost of construction is the major reason for the delay, van den Broek said, noting contractors and developers across the board are struggling to deal with the rapidly increasing costs.

“We’re definitely going to do the project,” he added. “There’s no doubt in my mind that’s the right project. We just need to make sure the costs come in where we need them to.”

Van den Broek said he will be tweaking the design for the entertainment complex, noting that his developer’s agreement with the City of Port Washington calls for him to make changes to accommodate development on the adjoining Port Harbor Center site.

He said he will be looking at the potential to combine the banquet facility and entertainment facility as he moves ahead, noting this may help reduce costs while helping to make the needed changes.

“We have to do a site redesign on the west end of the building so we might as well take a look at it,” he said.

“I don’t think the building itself will change very much,” Van den Broek said, adding, “It’s way too early to tell.”

Any potential changes to the building will likely come to the city for approval in fall or winter of this year, he said.

And while the design of the building itself is an issue to some people — it’s intended to be reminiscent of the Chair Co. factory, sited on the parking lot where a portion of the company’s factory once stood — van den Broek said changing that is not high on his priority list.

“Is there a way to soften some elements? Maybe. We’ll look at it,” he said.

The Blues Factory was proposed when the city decided to sell the north marina parking lot as a way to spur development in the marina district — a decision that split the community, with some people arguing that the land should be left open for the public’s enjoyment and others saying it is prime lakefront land ideal for development.

  The Blues Factory was the only development proposed for the land, and it would include a restaurant, banquet facility and performance space dedicated to telling the history of Paramount Records — an offshoot of the Wisconsin Chair Co., which operated on Port’s lakefront for decades. 

Because the Blues Factory is in the city’s downtown tax incremental financing district and would require a $1 million development incentive, it also spurred an ongoing debate over the role of TIF funding in the community.