Sheboygan County is home to some of Wisconsin’s largest, fastest-growing companies, including Kohler, Acuity, Masters Gallery Foods, Sargento and Johnsonville — and their success has led to a housing shortage leaders say is likely to be the county’s top priority over the next five years or longer.
“Housing continues to be at the forefront,” says Chad Pelishek, director of planning and development for the City of Sheboygan. “We finished an affordable housing market study in March of 2021, and we need to build 1,000 units of affordable multi-family units and 1,000 single family, so we have a lot of work to do to try to keep up with the demands.”
And building housing isn’t easy, Pelishek says, in today’s climate of supply chain bottlenecks, inflation woes and volatile interest rates. But across the county, public and private projects are pushing forward to help solve the shortage.
At the county level, the Sheboygan County Economic Development Corporation is enlisting the support of employers to address the issue through the Forward Fund — a program through which the SCEDC purchased 24.88 acres of land in Sheboygan Falls with the support of corporate partners. In the first phase of the effort, 54 homes are slated to be constructed in spring 2023.
“We’ve raised $8 million for entry-level homes, and we are in the final stages of designing those,” says SCEDC Executive Director Brian Doudna. “We hope to select contractors by the end of the year.”
Doudna says that, on top of the Forward Fund, the county has seen tremendous private-sector contributions to the cause. This includes the largest-ever undertaking of Van Horn Development, the real estate arm of the long-time Plymouth-based automotive group.
The development, North Town, is located in the Town of Sheboygan. Van Horn Development’s leader, Chris Merklein, worked with Dan Hein, the town’s longtime chair, to bring the idea to fruition — starting with some casual conversations at youth hockey tournaments that Merklein says “just kept going.”
The town had the 99 acres on an option contract for five years, and as time was running out, Hein and Merklein were able to reach an agreement: The town will purchase the land, provide infrastructure and create a 3-acre green space at the center of the development; Van Horn Development will build housing, retail and office space on the site.
Merklein says ground will be broken in the spring on the first phase of the project, which will include housing and retail space. Ultimately, the plan will bring 600 much-needed housing units in apartments, townhouses, row houses and pocket neighborhoods with shotgun homes, as well as 16,000 to 17,000 square feet of retail space. Merklein also says there have been encouraging discussions around bringing a 90-room Hilton Home2Suites extended stay hotel to the site.
In the city, Pelishek says, Wisconsin Housing & Economic Development Authority (WHEDA) tax credits are helping the city move forward on multiple housing developments, including affordable veterans housing, senior housing and 192 acres of single-family housing.
“Everything is really geared toward housing because of the continued demand for job openings in the market and the low unemployment rate,” Pelishek says.
Open for business
Despite its housing challenges, Doudna says Sheboygan County remains deeply invested in talent and business attraction efforts. SCEDC is working with the recently-opened Jake’s, A Lakeland Community and Lakeland University on a new, 18-member Innovation Council aimed at promoting and supporting entrepreneurship in the region, as well as a seed accelerator program that will launch in the first quarter of 2023 with support from the Small Business Development Center.
“Economic development is all about collaboration and making sure you maximize the resources and assets of your community. Jake’s is a tool to support entrepreneurship, and you have to maximize that,” says Doudna, adding that the new UWGB maker space in Sheboygan County is another partnership with higher education his organization is excited to leverage.
The SCEDC’s recent launch of “Someplace Better,” a new website and marketing campaign dedicated to talent attraction, has also gotten a good response, says Brenda Bintzler, SCEDC’s marketing manager. The second phase of the effort will include the launch of a talent community, she says.
“People can sign up and we’ll make that connection for them, as well as trailing partners,” Bintzler says. “So no matter what industry you’re in, you can find out that comprehensive list that is hiring for your position.”
Doudna anticipates a busy 2023, bolstered most recently by the announcement that a 100-acre business park is slated to be developed in the Village of Cedar Grove.
“It will be visible from I-43 and will be in collaboration with a private land developer that will be ready for business activity in the second quarter of 2023,” Doudna says. “It will be the new gateway to Sheboygan County.”
