May 11, 2023 9p
(WGTD)---The Kenosha Plan Commission unanimously recommended approval Thursday night of an agreement with a developer to rebuild a nine-block stretch of downtown Kenosha. A conceptual master plan was unveiled the day before.
If the City Council concurs Monday night, the approval will set in motion a years-long process that’s expected to result in a new city hall, hundreds of new townhouses, condos and apartments; a new hotel; office and retail space and many amenities. "It's really a great site," said Kristine Carlyle, lead architect for the development group. "You're very fortunate to have this because it's ideally located. It'll be a big transformation for the city. I'm very excited."
Not everyone who spoke at the meeting was quite as enthusiastic. Citizen Milton Ousland said he’s heard people complain that the project seems to overly cater to well-off individuals. "I'm all about bringing people who are more financially-advantaged to Kenosha to kind of spread that wealth in the community, but just the other day I was at Trolley Dogs which is near there and there was a man outside begging for food," he said.
At several points during the meeting, officials cited work that the city is doing to create affordable housing.
Housing is a major piece of the downtown project. The first phase is expected to be construction of town houses and a ten-story apartment building on sites opposite each other on 6th Ave. The developers are expected to return to the Plan Commission later this year with detailed plans.
Scott Yauck is President of Cobalt Partners of Milwaukee and acted as the main spokesman for the development group Thursday night.
He emphasized that some of the plans will change over time, depending on market conditions. Both the developer and the city are in recognition of that, and have built into the development agreement frequent meetings to assess the continued viability of various aspects. The entire project is expected to take up to 10 years to complete.
Many project components were included in plan laid out three years ago. But the original developer couldn't put together the financing and subsequently pulled out.
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