Feb. 8, 2023 3:30p
(WGTD)---A brownfield redevelopment project in downtown Racine is ready to proceed following a unanimous city council vote Tuesday night to sweeten the deal.
Madison-based HOVDE Properties went to the city for an extra $3.5 million to cover inflationary costs in building a six-story, 200-unit apartment building on a site that was once home to a manufactured gas plant.
HOVDE President Randy Guenther made his pitch in person. "The company is absorbing $3.5 million of additional construction costs and we're also absorbing the increased interest costs on this project. So it's a substantial additional investment that we're making," Guenther told the council. "We're asking the city to help partner with us to bridge that so that this project can move forward," he said. "Without that, it doesn't work financially."
The long-vacant site in question on Lake Ave. has been difficult to redevelop because of ground contamination. "If we were to start over, we'd be starting over and this lot would sit looking like that for a long time, in my opinion," said Alder Terry McCarthy. He called the project a "generational opportunity."
With the additional $3.5 million, the city will pay $6.1 million when the project is completed.
Construction is expected to begin next month.
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