Economic development is alive and well in Fond du Lac and Green Lake counties, with some of it rooted in cross-county collaboration.
One of those efforts is a partnership by Ripon, North Fond du Lac, Campbellsport and Waupun with the guidance of Envision Greater Fond du Lac to launch the WRNC Business Opportunity Fund. This new initiative is focused on fueling local business growth and innovation by providing flexible, low-interest loans to support startups and expansions in participating communities. For Adam Sonntag, Ripon city administrator, the fund’s existence represents hope and opportunity.
“It’s a complete change in how we’ve previously handled economic development by working with [the other communities] at a countywide level,” he says. “Everyone is on the same page with small business and access to capital.”
The impetus to work collaboratively began with conversations about another hot topic: housing. That spurred more conversations and the discovery that these communities are facing common challenges that can benefit from collaboration.
Housing has been top of mind for Ripon, which has conducted housing studies and hosted lot sale programs to spur new building permits. Every year for the past three to four years, the city has exceeded the previous year’s new building permits. A housing development in the works is the SCS Ripon, a 64-unit, market-rate apartment complex slated for the south side of town into which the city has been investing time and energy. Sonntag says they’re about halfway to where they want to be, needing 50 to 100 more units in the next five years, and are looking to acquire land, plan subdivisions and talk to developers to create a phased approach.
“Putting in 100 units is huge for such a small town,” Sonntag says. “We are being strategic so we don’t flood the market. We have a lot of people moving from outside the area, and the market rate project will open a whole new level of housing that hasn’t been built here for over a decade.”
The Green Lake housing challenge requires a different tactic. Twenty-eight percent of the housing is owned by seasonal homeowners, and the average home price is higher than in surrounding communities.
“The only way to increase revenue is via new construction, and a big focus is on what we’re doing in the next five years to increase housing developments,” says Mark Wilton, executive director of the Green Lake Area Chamber of Commerce and member of the Green Lake City Council. “It needs to be a mixture of housing products to also solve workforce housing for summer staff.”
Some of that staff works at the Heidel House Hotel & Resort that reopened four years ago.
“The reopening in 2021 was enormously impactful, not only as a big driver of tourism, but for the room tax that is a big driver of our parks and recs budget. They’re doing great things with the park infrastructure as a result,” Wilton says.
In May, Green Lake learned it was selected for the Wisconsin Main Street program, something Wilton anticipates will create significant opportunity for the downtown.
“Most people come for the lake, and we’ve had challenges engaging people in the events and shopping districts,” he says. “This [WEDC program] can help to connect people to the downtown.”
Understanding how important downtowns are and coming back from a failure 10 years ago is Ripon’s downtown story, says Sonntag. But a grant and the city’s diligent work with Dave Knuth and Knuth Brewing resulted in a brewery and event center downtown that’s been open a year and a half and is considered a downtown anchor. It and a smattering of independently owned shops and restaurants have created a desirable destination, Sonntag says.
The Knuth move also opened a few spots across the street, attracting Ripon Dough Co. and the potential to attract a downtown hotel, he says. In addition, economic development extends to Ripon College’s $30 million campus investment and the completion of the Ripon Boys & Girls Club’s $10 million facility that includes a child care center.
In Fond du Lac, Aeronautical Horizon Park will soon provide a single footprint for Spark Ops Metalworks in the often misunderstood and underperforming industrial park. The business’ infinite structures and other modular solutions have been used everywhere from the Super Bowl to concert stages, and business growth now requires a single location to store its components between events, says Lisa McArthur, vice president of economic developmentat Envision Greater Fond du Lac.
“Spark Ops is a great fit for this footprint, where they can spread their wings and grow as a minority- and woman-owned business,” McArthur says. She is also seeing steady growth by other small- to mid-size manufacturers on the verge of outgrowing their current facilities as they scale operations or diversify offerings.
“In the food and beverage space, there’s notable activity from new breweries and bakeries to existing favorites exploring second locations,” McArthur says. “This is a reflection of both consumer demand and a strong local market.”
In Ripon, there’s industrial activity with Signature Wafer, the largest producer of wafer cookies in the U.S., which has invested in a $30 million production line and anticipates hiring upwards of 40 employees, Sonntag says. Alliance Laundry also continues to expand; Hy-Vee purchased the former Webster’s grocery store; Theisen’s Home, Farm & Auto out of Iowa is moving in the old Kmart building.
“Getting them to come in and buy the Kmart building that has been sitting vacant for seven years is significant, both from the investment of money with the purchase but also the anticipated hiring of 50 people,” Sonntag says.
