Door County Advocate: New housing development in Sturgeon Bay will increase rental options
STURGEON BAY – Door County residents will have more housing options when two new housing developments open in 2019.
A groundbreaking for Tall Pines Estates, 1032 Egg Harbor Road, was held Monday and another complex, Maritime Heights, planned for the 700 blocks of Erie and Florida streets is on the Sturgeon Bay City Council agenda Tuesday for final approval.
“This kind of housing is really needed in our area,” said Seth Wiederanders, the alderman who represents the Egg Harbor Road neighborhood. “It’ll be nice housing for for people working in the area and people with families.”
There is more demand for rental housing than single family homes in the region, Wiederanders said.
Although there are a couple of apartment and townhouse projects either in development or under construction, more rental units are needed, he said.
Tall Pines Estates includes four buildings each with 16 units that are a mix of one- and two-bedroom apartments and a community playground. The rents will vary from $800 to $1,000 and include, washer/dryer, walk-in closets and detached garages. The first unit will open in the spring, 2019 with the remainder to open in the summer and fall, said Sarah Bonovich, who is the developer and owner of Tall Pines along with her husband, Brian Bonovich.
“We lived in Sturgeon Bay for a few years and love the city,” Sarah Bonovich said. “Over the years the city has made a lot of improvements including Egg Harbor Road and it’ll be a good location for multi-family housing.”
Housing that attracts and retains workers is critical to growing Door County’s economy, said Bill Chaudoir, interim director of the Door County Economic Development Corp.
“What the Bonovichs are doing is exactly what Door County entrepreneurs need — providing housing for the current and future employees,” Chaudoir said.
A concern among employers in the city’s industrial park is housing for workers, said Mayor Thad Birmingham.
“As I travel around the industrial park, the one universal comment I hear from employers is that in order to attract and retain good, qualified people, its not so much wages anymore, it is housing. There just is not a whole lot up here,” Birmingham said.
Maritime Heights will feature 34 townhouse-style units in four buildings planned for vacant land known as Amity Field along Erie and Florida streets. The townhomes will be two- and three-bedroom with estimated rents $700 to $900.
Another apartment complex on the south side of Sturgeon Bay will open later this summer. Sturgeon Bay Estates, on South Grant Avenue, features one-, two- and three-bedroom luxury apartments.
A townhouse style complex with 14 units, Lexington Homes, also has been approved across the street from Sturgeon Bay Estates, but the construction timeline is unknown because the permits have not been issued, said Marty Olejniczak, city Community Development Director.
The Bay Lofts Apartments in the city’s west side downtown, which include luxury amenities, has been a resounding success, said City Administrator Josh VanLieshout.
The modern urban design of the four-story structure includes 37 apartments with shops on the first level and underground heated parking. It was built on land vacated after a fire destroyed a complex of retail establishments.
“Bay Lofts is a success on many levels, including the redevelopment aspect, new retail component, and something we haven’t had before, an apartment building with an urban design,” VanLieshout said.
A housing project in the pipeline, Ahnapee Trail Apartments, proposed at the corner of Clay Banks and Tacoma Beach roads is being considered by the city’s plan commission, Olekniczak said.
During a plan commission hearing, numerous people living in the neighborhood objected to the proposed development, which includes 134 units.
“This proposed development is unlikely to proceed unless changes are made by the developer,” Olekniczak said.
Source: Door County Advocate
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