The first thing you might notice as you happen by the growing Lawrence Town Center is a brilliant multi‑color object jutting into the sky.
Look closer. It’s a stained‑glass water tower sculpture designed by renowned New York artist Tom Fruin, located at one end of an island in the center of a manmade lake. It’s the sentinel feature of a park that will include amenities like a waterfall, sculptures, pickleball and basketball courts, and even a green space for lawn yoga.
The $215 million Lawrence Town Center is being developed by Kaukauna‑based Boardwalk Development Co., a subsidiary of MS Agricultural Holdings Inc. along with Milk Source LLC.
Jim Ostrom is the CEO and partner of all three firms, and though he seems a reserved fellow, you sense the excitement in his voice when he discusses progress at the 153‑acre intersection of Interstate 41 and Freedom Road on the southern end of Lawrence township. That location will provide quick access to Appleton and Green Bay.
“We’re transforming a cornfield into a lifestyle community,” Ostrom says, adding that Phase 1 of the project has incorporated plenty of excavation, including the lake, with roads, curbs and gutters being built as of late July. More than 2,000 trees and over 4,000 perennials were being planted as well.
The well‑fed lake was almost full by that time, and it’s holding water perfectly thanks to pure, non‑permeable clay from Freedom. And don’t forget that water tower, which Ostrom says is “just a stunning piece.”
When he says Lawrence Town Center will be a lifestyle community, that’s no boast. In addition to the park, the lake and the island, 110 single‑family homes will be built, both ranch and two‑story models, along with about 45 townhomes adjacent to the lake and two apartment buildings comprising 385 units connected by an underground parking structure. The apartment buildings were designed by Green Bay architecture firm EUA and will be built by Stevens Construction of Madison.
The first homes and townhomes will be constructed this fall, and 2027 will bring a community center and mixed‑use buildings, along with a fitness center. Future phases of the seven‑ to 12‑year project will include a medical center and community‑based shopping, Ostrom says.
Dawson Nickels is Boardwalk’s business development manager, and he says despite spring rains (which incidentally helped fill the lake), the project is in good shape, timeline‑wise.
“I looked back the other day, and we’re within 35 to 40 days of our schedule that was set two years ago,” Nickels says. “We ran into all sorts of challenges big and small. The vendors and partners we’ve found along the way are really quality companies that have helped us tremendously.”
That includes Neenah‑based engineering firm McMahon, which Nickels says was the first firm Boardwalk brought in and worked on the conceptual drawings of the Lawrence Town Center site. Another key partner was Appleton‑based MCC (Murphy Concrete & Construction), which, among other tasks, dug the lake, cut the roads in and balanced the entire site. Green Bay’s PTS Contractors is working on utility and other site work.
“I cannot tell you how great our vendor group is,” Ostrom says. “They are generally locally based, blue‑chip companies in our area and working hard to meet our timelines and our standards.”
With a project of this type and magnitude, Boardwalk’s first, there were and are challenges to hit the Aug. 1, 2027 completion of Phase 1, when 20 of the 110 homes will be built, along with 10 of the 45 total townhomes.
“We’ve had some torrential rain, and an open construction site has made that challenging when you’re moving ground,” Ostrom says.
Nickels says the rainfall in a three- to four‑week window was less than ideal, and while it didn’t cause massive delays, “it caused us to rethink how we’d deliver the project.”
But being on site, as piece‑by‑piece it starts to come together? For Nickels, that’s golden, especially when the approach to completion has to be “eat the elephant … it’s a one bite at a time approach, a sequencing plan.
“I tell you, it’s been really fun the last three months,” he says. “You can start to see what we drew up on paper.”
And when that stained‑glass water tower was erected?
“That was the first thing everybody saw,” he says.
