Road paves way for business boom in Fredonia

Fredonia is open for business.

Well, the village always has been, but now it’s got a paved road to help take people there.

The village last week officially opened Innovation Drive, a stretch of road that heads into its business park.

Now, businesses can start building. Every lot has been sold but one spot.

“They’ve been sold for all of the areas except the 15 acres in the northeast corner,”  Village Administrator Christophe Jenkins said.

The Village Plan Commission in May approved site plans for Paulsen Mechanical, Greatland Electric and Nine Ladies Dancing. 

Now, Jenkins said, activity in the area will pick up.

“The road and utilities are needed. A lot of them (the businesses) have been waiting for us to finish our site work,” he said.

It has been a long time coming.

The village bought and annexed 64 acres southeast of its industrial park from the Town of Fredonia in 2021. It spent $1.2 million and borrowed another $5 million to help pay for the land, utilities and to build Innovation Drive.

The idea to create a tax incremental financing district and expand the park predates Jenkins being hired by the village, but he is happy to help attract businesses to the municipality.

The Village Board created the new industrial park since the other one was 20 years old and Fredonia was hungry for growth.

“The mindset since I’ve been here is we’re pro-economic development,” Jenkins said.

The village had been using the commercial real estate firm Colliers to help fill the industrial park since 2021, and now it just has one large parcel to fill. Landing a big manufacturer within the next two years, Jenkins said, would  curtail a negative cash flow in the park’s TID.

Last month, the village hired Cody Ziegler and his firm, Cushman and Wakefield, to find what Jenkins calls that “big fish” to fill the 15-acre spot.

The firm, with offices in Milwaukee and Madison, has experience in manufacturing and industrial real estate. It recently found new tenants for the former Guy and O’Neill facility, a wipes plant that shut down in January.

Ziegler told the board in June that the $40,000 per-acre price tag on the remaining 15 acres is lower than market value and would be attractive to a buyer.

Ziegler said if the parcel sold below asking price, his firm would be paid as if it was $40,000 per acre since the cost is so far below market value.

“We’re pretty excited about bringing him on,” Jenkins said.

“We’re hoping they can help us catch that big fish with the 15 acres we have left.”