Cedar Vineyard land purchased for $5 million by surprise buyer

The Port Washington property designated for the Cedar Vineyard subdivision has been sold —but not to Tom Swarthout, who proposed the subdivision.

According to the Ozaukee County Register of Deeds office, the 55-acre parcel on the east side of Highway C north of Cedar Gorge was sold to PJ and HF LLC for $5 million.

The sale was recorded with the county on July 16, Register of Deeds Ron Voigt said.

But the questions are, who is PF and HF LLC and what are its plans for the property?

The limited liability corporation was registered with the state in June 2020, according to the Wisconsin Department of Financial Institutions.

The registered agent for the corporation is Cedarburg attorney R. Douglas Stansbury, who did not return a call seeking comment.

The property was previously owned by Waukesha State Bank. Keith Van De Laarschot, a commercial banker with the bank, would not comment on the property and would not confirm it had been sold.

“There is something going on but I can’t tell you any more than that,” he said Tuesday. 

Port Washington city officials said Tuesday they have had no discussions with the property owners and no one has asked about allowable uses for the land.

Tom Stolp, executive director of the Ozaukee Washington Land Trust, which is working to raise funds to purchase 131 acres south of the Cedar Vineyard land for use as a public nature preserve, said he knew the land was sold but nothing more.

The price paid for the land is significantly more than that negotiated for the Clay Bluff Cedar Gorge Nature Preserve, he noted. 

“I think the value of that recent real estate transaction underscores the value of private land on the Lake Michigan shore. If we’re successful in getting the Department of Natural Resources (Knowles Nelson stewardship) grant secured, we can guarantee the 131-acre Clay Bluff preserve is forever public.”

Cedar Vineyard was initially proposed by Swarthout in 2015 for 227 acres of the former VK Development property along the south bluff with 73 home sites, a 100-acre nature conservancy, a vineyard and winery.

The city approved a tax incremental financing district to help with the infrastructure costs and Ozaukee County and the Ozaukee Washington Land Trust began working on plans to buy the nature conservancy portion of the project.

But Swarthout’s Highview Group never purchased the land. The project stalled and the Land Trust and the county reached an agreement with the bank to purchase the southern portion of the land.

Earlier this year, Swarthout and Ascend Real Estate Group brought a modified plan for the Cedar Vineyard subdivision to the city. This plan called for 45 single-family lots on 74 acres between Highway C and the Lake Michigan bluff north of Cedar Gorge.

About a third of the property was to be residential, a third vineyards for the winery planned for four acres on the west side of Highway C owned by the Tillman family and the remaining third was to be open space, including two miles of public bike and pedestrian trails and bluff and beach access.