Sussex —The Mammoth Springs commercial and residential development being constructed at Main Street and Waukesha Avenue will be completed two years before schedule, according to its developer, Art Sawall of Brookfield.
Construction of two commercial buildings along with a fifth apartment building in the complex will be conducted simultaneously during the remainder of 2015 and early 2016, according to Sawall.He anticipates the three buildings will be completed in May and June.
He said three of the 33 apartments in the fifth building have already been rented. He said there is 100 percent occupancy in the other four apartment buildings.
He was optimistic about the tenants he is lining up for the commercial buildings.
Sawall expects to soon complete negotiations with the owner of a tea and coffee shop who he declined to identify pending completion of the negotiations.
He said two national pizza companies, a financial entity, and owners of a medical facility have expressed interest in occupying the commercial buildings.
Initially, Sawall faced some challenges in finding commercial tenants.
“It is hard to envision what a development is going to look like until you have some buildings on it. Once we started building, there was more interest,” he explained.
Sawall says he will also make a modification in the plans for the two commercial buildings.
One of the buildings will be located on the south side of Main Street and the other building on the south side of Waukesha Avenue. Sawall had initially planned to located an ornate clock tower between the two buildings.
He has decided to replace the clock with a large fire pit that will be located between the buildings.
“I have found out that a lot of people like sitting around a fire pit. While the clock would have been decorative, the fire pit will be more useful and practical,” he said.
About the time construction work is finishing on Mammoth Springs, work will begin on Mammoth Springs South.
Plans call for 89 two- and three-story townhouse-style apartments to be built in a series of row house-style buildings constructed in the vicinity of Dyer Drive, which is south of the Mammoth Springs development.
Sawall said he has completed negotiations on four parcels of land on Dyer Drive that will be in addition to three that he has already purchased.
Sawall has also completed negotiations on a series of properties located on the north and south side of the triangular intersection of Main Street and Silver Spring Drive.
He is planning a three-story, 57 unit, L-shaped multi-family building that would be located in the vicinity of the Citgo Station now located at the intersection. He anticipates demolishing the landmark building later this year.
The existing intersection will be reconfigured. The village plans to construct a T intersection a few hundred feet east of the existing triangle. The existing intersection will be closed and the land surrounding it will be developed, according to village officials.
Sawall has purchased two other parcels of land near the intersection, the William Silver residence and about 7 acres of the former Golner Farm.
He anticipates two multi-family residential complexes on the site.
He plans to begin construction in the spring or summer of 2016 on 34 moderately price condominiums about 1,800 square feet each with three bedrooms, two and a half baths, and two-car attached garages that are expected to sell in the vicinity of $289,000 to $350,000.
Located near the condominiums will be a 30-unit, multi-family apartment building that will be reserved for adults 55 years of age and older.
In addition to the apartments in the downtown business district, Sawall is also developing a 150-home residential subdivision on Maple Avenue near the village community center.
Sawall purchased the land from the Waukesha State Bank, who took possession of the property from a developer whose plans for residential development fell through because of “The Great Recession” in 2008 and internal legal issues within the company.
The village sold $2.6 million in bonds to pay for the construction of roads, sidewalks, and installation of utilities. Sawall will repay the village over a 10-year period through special assessments on the property.
The village has also borrowed about $5.1 million to help pay for public improvements and provide developers incentives for the Sawall projects in the downtown business district located within the tax increment financing district #6.
Village officials are hoping that the additional real estate tax revenues generated by the new commercial and residential developments will help repay those loans over a period of a years.
Sawall has described the tax increment financing district program as a “win, win” for both developers and municipalities.
He explained that without the additional municipal revenues generated through the TIF program, developments could not be successfully financed and built.
And, with the developments encouraged by TIF, municipalities could not add new developments which increase the local tax base.
Sawall is a native of Siberia, where he was born while his parents were confined to a Soviet Union labor camp. After his parents were released from the camp, he came to the United States in the late 1960s.
He majored in electrical engineering at the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee and, after graduation, he started a small company that specialized in computer software designed for electrical engineering.
He later sold the company and began a career in real estate development.
Shortly after The Great Recession of 2008, he became interested in the abandoned former Mammoth Springs Cannery Company site in downtown Sussex.
Written By Kelly Smith
Sussex Sun
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