Saukville officials get first look at ‘beautiful building’

Saukville Village Board members on Monday got a first look at the recently completed American Orthodontics building, the anchor of the Northern Gateway Community Collective development.

An Ozaukee Press reporter and a photographer, however, did not get such an opportunity. They were told at the door by American Orthodontics officials that, despite public notice of the event, it was a “closed meeting.”

Village Administrator Dawn Wagner said the board “did not anticipate and were not aware” Press staff would be turned away, but said there wasn’t a quorum of the Village Board or any village committee at the tour and no village business was conducted.

Village President Andy Hebein said the tour was “pretty limited,” however the board was able to see “how the operation will look.”

Production at the 129,000-square-foot building, located at 3265 Northwoods Rd,  will start “very soon,” Hebein said.

About 40 staff members will operate the first shift, with more being added over time, Hebein said, although he noted American Orthodontics gave them no “hard and fast” timeline for staff hirings.

Nevertheless, Hebein said, “It’s exciting how its gaining momentum.”

Village Trustee William Randolph agreed, stating American Orthodontics is a “wonderful company” that built a “beautiful building,” and specifically commended the company for installing solar panels on the roof.

The design of the building allows for American Orthodontics to double the square-footage in the future by adding a second-floor to the office-space and expanding production facilities eastward, Hebein said.

    “They have a long-term vision,” he said, which was inspired by AO outgrowing its home facility in Sheboygan.

After its founding in 1968, the company was initially headquartered in a building on Sheboygan’s north side. In 2013, it moved to a south side 280,000-square-foot building.

“We’re completely full,” Bret Blizzard, marketing and communications manager for American Orthodontics, said last month. “One of the exciting things is there’s room (in Saukville) to expand. The problem we have in Sheboygan is we’re landlocked.”

Randolph said he hopes American Orthodontics is successful enough that even their Saukville facility becomes insufficient.

“They thought they had enough space and now they’ve outgrown their home facility,” Randolph said. “If they keep growing, hopefully they’ll outgrow ours in 10 years.”

The Saukville location has the benefit of close proximity to I-43, as well as to Milwaukee and Sheboygan, Blizzard said. It will be “truly an expansion facility” housing manufacturing and light assembly facilities that will produce orthodontic treatment supplies, he said.

Development across the Gateway project is in full-swing, Hebein said, noting the site’s three apartment buildings are under constrcution and plans for the Gateway Sports Academy, which officials hope will be completed and open by next spring, were recently approved.

According to project plans, the sports center will have four basketball courts, nine basketball shooting cages, six volleyball courts, eight pickleball courts, team rooms and a sports medicine center.

The project, with an estimated $8.3 million value, will create 15 to 20 jobs and host an estimated 18 national basketball, 16 school-based basketball and six volleyball tournaments a year, the plans said, attracting 17,000 players and 42,500 spectators.

“They will be hosting tournaments from across the country,” Hebein said, noting it would include tournaments for all ages.

Along with the sports center and American Orthodontics’s facility, the 99-acre Northern Gateway is expected to house a 30-acre business park, 110-room hotel, day care facility, and as many as 620 housing units.