Green Bay picks its partner to explore combo fire station, apartments project on Broadway
GREEN BAY - Green Bay received 11 responses to a call for developers interested in developing a combination fire station and housing development on a west-side redevelopment site.
The city's Redevelopment Authority on Tuesday chose Milwaukee-based General Capital Group as its partner in putting a mixed-use proposal together for the former Badger Sheet Metal site in the 400 block of South Broadway.
The city and General Capital expect to start discussions on the project next week with a hope to bring a finalized plan and development agreement back to the Redevelopment Authority by the end of 2024, said Matt Buchanan, the city's deputy development director. If discussions between the parties go well, Buchanan said the goal would be to start construction by late 2025.
The city's call for developers laid out a site plan that included a new Green Bay Metro Fire Department station, new Metro Fire administrative spaces, at least 200 apartments, green infrastructure and, if possible, commercial space along South Broadway.
The combined approach would create much-needed taxable property value in the Shipyard Redevelopment Area while Metro Fire can upgrade two of its central city facilities, both of which need upgrades. Fire Station 3, 885 Shawano Ave., needs to be replaced as it is now more than 85 years old, undersized and inadequate for current fire equipment and staff. The department's headquarters on Washington Street face similar issues.
"We really need fire facilities and this happens to be the best location for it," Buchanan said, adding "But can we add some (property) value?"
The Badger Sheet Metal site is close to Metro Fire's "optimal" location for a new station house because it will enable the department to maintain its ideal response time of 4-6 minutes to central city and west-side addresses, Green Bay Metro Fire Chief Matthew Knott previously said.
The city in 2018 purchased the Badger Sheet Metal site as part of its efforts to revitalize the Shipyard Redevelopment Area on the western shore of the Fox River, north of the Mason Street overpass. The city has secured a $1 million grant from the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency to help with the costs to demolish the remaining buildings this year and to remove contaminated soil from the site.
Buchanan noted one of the things that made General Capital stand out from the pool of submissions was that the company has experience in public-private mixed-use developments. General Capital and the Milwaukee Public Library in spring 2023 broke ground on MLK Library Apartments in Milwaukee's Harambee neighborhood. The project includes 93 apartments and a new 17,000-square-foot home for the Milwaukee Public Library's Martin Luther King branch and is expected to be complete this fall.
The Redevelopment Authority's decision to work with General Capital does not require approval from the Green Bay City Council. But if the city and company agree on a project plan, things like the development agreement and project plans would require further approval before they could proceed.
Contact Jeff Bollier at (920) 431-8387 or jbollier@gannett.com. Follow him on Twitter at @JeffBollier.
This article originally appeared on Green Bay Press-Gazette: Green Bay picks its partner for a combo fire station-housing project
