In Waupaca and Shawano counties, several projects are underway to address the need for housing, aimed at helping to bring in and keep a pipeline of workers for employers in the area.
“One of the sticking points for business expansion has been lack of available housing, both affordable and market,” says Peter Thillman, executive director of Shawano County Economic Progress, Inc. (SCEPI).
A housing study conducted in 2021-22 showed that the county was “way behind in housing development,” Thillman says. “We probably needed to construct about 1,000 units to get even.”
While the county hasn’t yet caught up to that number, it’s definitely gaining ground. “Shawano County property values have been just skyrocketing, there’s been a ton of new construction, and we’re pretty excited and bullish,” Thillman says.
Shawano is in the process of a new multifamily development north of Highway B that will have five buildings with 12 units each, Thillman says.
Bonduel is another community that’s turned a corner in building in the past couple of years, Thillman says. The village received some seed money through WEDC’s Thrive Rural program to help with its aging downtown and to attract more housing. In December, the village broke ground on the new Sunrise Court subdivision, a seven-lot development with Black Diamond Builders that will be the first single-family development in more than 20 years, Thillman says.
SCEPI also is working with Bonduel on another multifamily development, potentially up to 48 units.
Additionally, S.C. Swiderski (SCS) is working on a 48- to 50-unit multifamily development in the Wittenberg Business Park; groundbreaking is planned for July 22.
In April, Thillman had meetings set with site selectors who visited during the NFL draft and he planned to pitch the region’s workforce, which includes 20,000 workers with an unemployment rate between 2.5 and 3%.
“So where are the workers? Well, 40% of them leave the county every day to go to work,” Thillman says. “That’s 8,000 bodies that if you build a facility here, they’ll come, they’ll stay.”
At first, investors weren’t sure they could get the rents on new units, which are going for about $1,400 to $1,800 monthly. “People didn’t think they could get the rents, so they didn’t build,” Thillman says. But when SCS started building, “they got the rents, and more development followed,” Thillman says, adding that employers seem to be keeping up. “To be competitive in this labor market, you need to pay decent wages.”
Waupaca County also has seen steady growth in housing, with the hope that people will move into the county to be closer to work at area employers like Waupaca Foundry, TreeHouse Foods, Walker Forge, Titan Industries and Creative Converting that are scattered throughout a four-county area, says Jeff Mikorski, executive director of the Waupaca County Economic Development Corporation.
“If we want the county to grow and develop and continue to have the workforce needed for manufacturing and industries, we need housing to be available to bring people in and have people stay in the area,” Mikorski says.
While the state of the economy slowed new housing growth for a while, “we’re seeing a lot more interest in additional housing projects,” Mikorski says.
Waupaca County projects include:
- A new 98-unit apartment complex in New London developed by SCS. The project is set to open this fall. Another 15-unit complex is in the permitting process, Mikorski says.
- The River North Ridge project by Tycore Built in Waupaca along Royalton Street. Phase 1 includes 124 apartment units and 35 single-family homes.
- A 30-unit apartment building by Schulke Properties. The project is underway on the former site of the St. Mary Magdalene Catholic Church.
Other recent and upcoming projects in Waupaca and Shawano counties include:
- Two library projects are moving forward: Fremont received a $4.25 million grant and is in the design phase of a new Tri-County Library and Community Center. In the fall, New London received a $3.9 million state grant to renovate the former First State Bank building.
- Der Wolf Garten, a new beer garden, is opening in downtown New London this year.
- The VFW in Shawano held a groundbreaking in May for its new building on Olson Street. Construction on Wolf River Dental Clinic also is underway, as is Strive Behavioral Solutions. This fall, Shawano Family Dentistry anticipates construction, Thillman says. “We’ve been trying to identify city-owned underutilized parcels, and [hope] that we can make the projects work by using that land and reducing the land costs for companies,” he says.
Anniversary of WCEDC
This year, the Waupaca County Economic Development Corp. is celebrating 30 years of operation.
“We’ve had a big impact on the business and the economy of the county,” Mikorski says. “We’re really excited about showing off our biggest program, which is our revolving loan fund for small expanding businesses.”
WCEDC administered the county’s Community Development Block Grant for Economic Development from 1996 to 2019, when the program was transferred to WCEDC, independent of federal funds.
Since the beginning, WCEDC has administered 85 loans ranging from about $9,000 to about $250,000 — totaling roughly $5 million — with a total project investment of about $52 million.
Loans have gone to manufacturers, small businesses and restaurants, helping startups and business expansions.
In 2025, the revolving loan fund will be concentrating on downtown areas, so “we’re going to kick off another initiative later this year, to focus on improving the older buildings in our downtowns,” Mikorski says.
