Across Brown County, municipalities are reaping the economic benefits of increased business expansion, industrial development and long-awaited infrastructure improvements.
Kelly Armstrong, vice president of economic development for the Greater Green Bay Chamber, says Brown County as a whole had a productive year in existing business expansion projects, which have seen year-over-year growth.
“In 2023 we hit over 30 [projects]. The previous year was 28, and the year before that was 26,” Armstrong says. “That speaks to the health of our local economy. I will always tie that back to the diversity of our industry base. We make a lot of things, and then we got really good at getting them to market via logistics and transportation — which is a high-growth field for us as well.”
Armstrong points to Wrightstown as a municipality that has seen positive growth in its housing market and increased industrial development, including the largest speculative building in county history which was completed in 2022.
“Since 2015, we’ve been able to bring about $200 million into the village in developments,” says Wrightstown Village Administrator Travis Coenen. “With the different housing availability — between townhomes, apartments and single-family homes — that’s added a lot and we’ve also brought a lot of great manufacturing/industrial partners into the community.”
But Coenen says it’s the downtown revitalization efforts through the opening of a redevelopment TID that is causing business owners and residents to see the community as offering more than a convenient commute to Green Bay or Appleton.
“We’ve been able to get our downtown River District back to full occupancy, with four buildings renovated with new storefronts and interiors,” he says.
These renovated buildings house Lost Key Tap, The Pizza Shoppe, The River Coffee and Cream, and The Hair Canvas & Boutique.
Gnarly Cedar Brewery, which formerly operated out of LedgeStone Vineyards in Greenleaf, is in the process of redeveloping the village’s former public works garage at 420 Washington St. for its new riverfront brewery, expected to open this summer.
“It’s going to bring an awesome venue to our River District and bring a lot of energy to what’s happening there,” says Coenen, who acknowledges that none of Wrightstown’s recent growth would have happened without community support.
“It takes a village,” he says, “and that’s what we have here.”
South Bridge Connector project
Cole Runge, Brown County planning director, says one of the county’s long‑awaited infrastructure projects is coming to fruition nearly 60 years after it was first envisioned.
The South Bridge Connector project was first outlined in Brown County’s 1967 comprehensive plan, with in-earnest planning underway since the mid-90s. The county is working in conjunction with the city of De Pere and the towns of Ledgeview and Lawrence on the project, which aims to address congestion in the vicinity of the existing Fox River bridges, accommodate increasing traffic, reduce travel time and increase safety.
“We’ve always seen this project as a tremendous economic driver for the region, and it’s underway right now,” Runge says. “To go from concept to project took quite a bit of time, to say the least, but we are at that point now where our schedule has us completing the entire project end-to-end in 2029.”
Construction on the project’s first section, located between Packerland Drive in Lawrence and Lawrence Drive in De Pere, will begin this year with scheduled completion in 2026. The project will be constructed in five sections and has a total estimated cost of $150-175 million. Runge says the project’s two most costly aspects — the new I-41 interchange and bridge — are funded by the state.
Runge says city of De Pere officials have reported that new investments have already occurred in and around that corridor based on the project’s location.
“Based on conversations we have had with the city of De Pere, the South Bridge Connector project is definitely driving economic development in that part of the city. We anticipate that occurring outside of De Pere as well, especially in Lawrence and Ledgeview.”
Other notable happenings around Brown County:
- The Brown County Library opened its new East Branch location last September at 2253 Main St. in Green Bay. The 16,300-square-foot facility features a business center, meeting rooms, expanded children’s area, drive‑up window, outdoor greenspace and additional parking.
- New Land Enterprises of Milwaukee is preparing a development proposal for a vacant Green Bay parking lot located on Cherry Street, between Adams and Washington streets. The plan, which is expected to be submitted next month, would include at least 250 apartments — primarily market-rate — with ground-floor retail and restaurant tenants.
- The University of Wisconsin-Green Bay’s Phoenix Innovation Park, jointly funded by Brown County, recently hired Alan Peters as economic development executive to lead developments at the park.
- Brown County and the Port of Green Bay are in the process of securing grant funding for redevelopment of the Pulliam Power Plant coal plant site into a port facility. The Port of Green Bay secured a $10.1 million federal grant in 2022, but additional funding is needed to complete improvements including the removal of existing coal piles. “That will open up 30 acres on the river where the coal is currently located, and we could work to improve that site with additional downtown uses, multi-family housing as well as some industrial port-oriented uses on the southern end of the site,” says Matt Buchanan, deputy development director for the City of Green Bay.
