Sussex — This village of around 10,700 residents is “a sleepier community,” developer Art Sawall acknowledges.
But, with Sawall building the final phase of his Mammoth Springs mixed-use project and proceeding with plans to build four other nearby apartment and condominium developments, it’s fair to say Sussex’s little downtown is waking up.
Mammoth Springs, on 10 acres south of Main St. and west of Waukesha Ave., opened its first three apartment buildings in spring 2014, and a fourth was completed this past June.
Sawall is now building a fifth three-story apartment building and a pair of two-story commercial buildings. Mammoth Springs will total 153 apartments and 24,000 square feet of commercial space when it is completed by June.
Meanwhile, construction could begin next spring and summer on two of the four additional projects Sawall plans to build near Mammoth Springs over the next three years or so. Those four developments would create 237 housing units and 1,200 square feet of commercial space.
Together, all of Sawall’s projects, including Mammoth Springs, will add more than $50 million in estimated new property values. Property taxes from those new projects will pay back around $10 million in village cash used to help finance the projects and some related road improvements.
Mammoth Springs has attracted a mix of millennial generation members in their 20s and 30s, as well as older empty-nesters, Sawall said. He expects the future apartment and condominium projects to continue drawing residents from both groups.
Sussex, he said, is a livable community, offering a small-town atmosphere along with a relatively quick commute to some major employers in Waukesha County.
Those include the headquarters of Quad/Graphics Inc., which is within walking distance of Mammoth Springs; the Menomonee Falls headquarters of Kohl’s Corp. and GE Healthcare’s Pewaukee offices.
Sharon and Tom Hust are empty-nesters who moved from their Town of Lisbon home to a two-bedroom apartment at Mammoth Springs in September 2014. Sussex is roughly halfway between Sharon Hust’s Glendale workplace and the Town of Erin, where her husband works.
The Husts also enjoy being within walking distance of a supermarket and several restaurants.
Sawall, who was born in the Soviet Union and moved with his family to the United States as a child, isn’t a developer by trade. He founded Brookfield-based ECT International Inc., which he sold in 2008 to software firm Bentley Systems Inc., based in Exton, Pa.
Mammoth Springs was built on the site of a former cannery that closed in 1996 and was later demolished. Sawall bought the site in 2011, and broke ground on the first phase in 2013.
The project features three-story apartment buildings with underground parking — characteristics of urban-style developments. Mammoth Springs also has walking trails, a former quarry pond and links to Waukesha County’s Bugline Recreational Trail.
Sawall had planned to complete the project by the end of 2019. But demand was greater than expected, and all four apartment buildings are fully occupied, he said. The average monthly rents are $1,000 to $1,350 for one- and two-bedroom units.
The fifth apartment building is already drawing interest, and the two 12,000-square-foot commercial buildings will soon have leases for their first tenants: a coffee/tea shop and a restaurant, he said.
Sawall is preparing his additional nearby projects:
■ Two-story townhouse-style apartments, totaling 89 units, south of the Mammoth Springs pond, on Dyer Drive. Construction could begin in May, with the entire project taking an estimated 18 months to complete.
■ A three-story, 30-unit apartment building for people ages 55 and older, and 17 duplex-style condo buildings, totaling 34 units, on a farm south of Silver Spring Drive and west of Hickory Drive. Construction on both the apartments and condos could begin next summer, with the apartments taking about 10 months to complete and the condos likely built in stages over three to four years.
■ Another three-story apartment building, this one with 57 units, on a parcel that now has a Citgo gas station, located just east of the intersection of Main St. and Silver Spring Drive. Construction on that project probably will begin within two to three years.
■ A three-story building with 27 apartments and 1,200 square feet of commercial space, on a parcel now used by a Napa Auto Parts store, north of Main St. and east of Kneiske Drive. That would be the last project, with construction likely beginning in about three years.
“And then I retire,” Sawall said.
Sawall’s plans are getting financing help from the village. Mammoth Springs received $2.8 million to help cover that project’s costs.
The $21 million development’s new property taxes were initially expected to pay back those funds by 2040, said Jeremy Smith, village administrator. However, because Mammoth Springs was built faster than expected, that payoff will likely occur around three years earlier, he said.
The Village Board in July approved a development agreement with Sawall that includes more spending in connection with the additional projects.
The village plans to provide $5.8 million to help pay for Sawall’s property acquisitions, an environmental cleanup tied to the Citgo station and underground parking cost, Smith said.
Also, the village will spend $1.3 million to create a new intersection of Main St. and Silver Spring Drive east of the planned 57-unit apartment building to help make way for that project, he said. That road work will be part of a 2016 upgrade of Main St.
The property taxes from Sawall’s new developments, with values totaling around $31 million, are expected to pay back those funds by 2041, Smith said. Once that debt is paid off, the new property taxes go to the village’s general fund, the Hamilton School District and other local governments.
Some Village Board members have raised concerns about portions of Sawall’s latest plans.
They have questioned the large number of new apartments, and whether it would be better to have a commercial building instead of apartments near the Main St./Silver Spring Drive intersection.
However, other board members say the best way to draw more commercial development to downtown Sussex is to bring more residents — creating higher demand for restaurants, stores and other commercial services. Smith said that argument makes sense.
“We’re trying to drive that commercial development that won’t occur on its own,” he said.
Those new commercial buildings will help create a community gathering space, Smith said.
Sussex has a growing number of younger families who want a more walkable community, said Greg Goetz, village president.
“A lot of people want to take that (baby) buggy and walk to downtown, and walk to the library, from the outer subdivisions,” Goetz said.
By Tom Daykin, Journal Sentinel
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