Developer set to make final payment to city for bluff land

Black Cap Halcyon is about to make its final payment to the City of Port Washington for the 35 acres along Port’s south bluff where it is developing the Prairie’s Edge subdivision.

The Common Council on Tuesday approved a resolution authorizing officials to prepare the necessary documents to satisfy the mortgage, which is being held by the city.

The firm is prepared to make its final mortgage payment on the property along Port’s south bluff that it purchased from the city for $2 million in 2018 by May 24.

The final payment is expected to be $610,784, according to documents submitted to the council.

The company’s purchase agreement required it to pay about $200,000 when it bought the land, $1 million when the first building permit was issued for the north phase of the subdivision and $500,000 each when the permits for the middle and south phases of the project were taken out.

The company has also been making monthly mortgage payments of about $8,300.

Black Cap Halcyon is expected to close on the sale of some parcels in the south phase of the project, so it is prepared to make its third and final payment, officials said.

Prairie’s Edge is poised to be the city’s largest subdivision, adding almost $60 million to the tax base with 34 single-family houses, 16 pocket neighborhood single-family homes, 20 townhouses and 156 apartments as well as 30,000 square feet of commercial space.

Work on the north phase of the project began in 2021. That phase of the project includes a 36-unit assisted living and memory care facility and 14 single-family lakeside cottages.

According to the Prairie’s Edge website, half of the single-family lots have been sold.

The middle phase of the development includes two commercial buildings, three apartment buildings, one of which will include a health club and retail spaces, a clubhouse and eight lakefront cottages.

The south phase will have nine lakefront lots for semi-custom houses, 16 pocket neighborhood homes around a central courtyard and 20 townhouses.

The subdivision is being built on land the city acquired from We Energies in 2004 as part of an agreement allowing the utility to convert its plant to natural gas without city objections.

Black Cap Halcyon was chosen from three developers for the property by the city, agreeing to pay the appraised value for the land and creating a development that most closely met the city’s vision for the parcel.

But city officials have been frustrated by delays in the project and by the fact that Tony Polston, founder and principal at Black Cap Halcyon, assured the city he would not need tax incremental financing for the project but later unsuccessfully sought TIF funding.