The Corridor development in downtown Oshkosh will help fill gaps in housing and child care, while meeting a long-term development goal for the city.
“As long as I’ve been in Oshkosh, this has been something that has been on the radar or the working list for the city, but nothing really happened,” said Justin Mitchell, development services senior project manager at Commonwealth Companies.
Speaking at the 2025 WEDA Fall Best Practices Conference in September, Mitchell detailed how the city and Commonwealth successfully navigated redevelopment.
“I’m excited about this project. It’s something that I think can be replicated in a lot of communities,” Mitchell said.
The project will include 55 housing units in new construction and a 3,000-square-foot child care center operated by Oshkosh Child Development Center. Both were key to the project’s success.
The city wanted development at the site that included commercial space on the first floor facing Main Street since it lies within a block of the Oshkosh Business Improvement District. The backside of the project faces a one-way street with residential development.
The development was designed with a more commercial and urban look facing Main Street and a residential feel facing the other side. There is parking and a courtyard and play area in the middle.
Mitchell said that while Commonwealth does not typically develop commercial space, it does work with nonprofit organizations — making the child care center a good fit for a partnership.
The project was planned so that Oshkosh Child Development Center would not have to lease or invest in the space financially. Mitchell said that should help them succeed in attracting and retaining child care staff, while meeting the goal of providing two-shift child care, which is not offered anywhere else in Oshkosh.
There will be affordable housing units that help make the project financially viable through tax credits. Mitchell provided a list of workers who fall into the income range for affordable housing that included paramedics and Oshkosh Corp. assemblers at the high end to weatherization installers and sales associates at the low end.
The mix of incomes ensures the financial success of the project. So does the creative funding.
The $16.6 million project required $9.6 million in private equity generated by tax credits, a $2.8 million mortgage and $4.2 million in gap financing provided by the city through ARPA, TIF and other sources.
Mitchell said communities can duplicate the success of The Corridor through preparation. He said they need to make sure a site is ready for development and that they have the right plan for the site.
Preparing data about the need for the development and communicating that with the neighborhood and community in advance of planning a development is key.
“Cities are very proactive about creating industrial parks and business parks. But when it comes to residential, they kind of just leave it up [to] developers to do their stuff,” Mitchell said.
Oshkosh had acquired parcels and gathered data before putting together a request for proposals.
“It’s easy to have a third party fight your battles,” Mitchell said. “Don’t wait for the developer to come forward with a project and have them fight the battles for you.”
Sara Rutkowski, community development director for Oshkosh, presented at the WEDA conference alongside Mitchell and said the city communicated its plans well ahead of time and was able to get ahead of the rumor mill.
Finally, the city needs to provide someone to shepherd a project through the entire process.
“Something’s going to go wrong and you have to be willing to adapt, to change and to adjust,” she said. “You have to have somebody who is going to do that and keep the project going.”
The Corridor is on schedule for completion next spring, with the first units opening this year.
