Thursday, September 19, 2024
MARINETTE – For about $900,000, Wade Micoley of Tycore Built in Green Bay purchased the old Bay Area Hospital property in Marinette with plans to turn it into a housing development called Shipyard Estates.
About 174 apartments and 22 single-family homes will be built in separate areas of the land at Shore Drive and University Drive, said Wade Micoley, owner of Tycore Build.
“Marinette definitely needs some housing,” Micoley said.
The area is gradually getting more housing, thanks to the City of Marinette’s support and incentives that have attracted developers of apartments, condos and single-family homes.
“Right now the market has a need for all – for purchase of homes, for rental homes, for rental apartments – so all ends of it. We have a huge need,” Marinette Mayor Steve Genisot said.
Fueling the need is employment growth at area businesses, including Fincantieri Marinette Marine, Johnson Controls, Waupaca, ChemDesigns, Aurora and Bellin hospitals and other area employers, Genisot said.
“Each of the major employers in town have been not only growing but trying to find housing and day care. Those are the top two priorities” for workers new to Marinette, Genisot said.
“We’re trying to get workers to live here. They’ve been traveling upwards of an hour in the radius of traveling,” he said. “We want to attract them to our community, since they can build in any community. We want them to build here versus other communities.”
According to one study Genisot referenced, Marinette is short over 600 housing units. That’s the number needed to support growth in various industries in the city.
“Housing is one of the key areas people consider when deciding to accept a position, so we believe additional housing would be seen as a positive development,” said Eric Dent, director of communications at Fincantieri Marinette Marine. Day care also is an important factor when workers choose where to live.
The Marinette arm of the multinational shipbuilder based in Italy has 1,417 direct employees and 600 time-and-attendance contractors employed in its yard on the Menominee River, said Eric Dent, director of communications. “Where we are short on the number of people required, we use contracted labor,” he said. “Ideally, those 600 contractor positions would be filled by a direct employee.”
The shipbuilder is among the world’s largest shipbuilders and is growing in Marinette because of a large Navy contract.
In April 2020, Fincantieri Marinette Marine received a Nancy contract to design and build a new guided-missile frigate, the USS Constellation and options for nine others, five of which have been exercised so far, Dent said. The initial $795 million contract could hit $5.5 billion if all options are exercised. “The Navy has repeatedly stated that they need many more ships beyond the first ten, so we believe we will be building frigates for decades,” he said. So far, the Marinette location has an order for six U.S. Navy frigates. It’s also building four Multi-Mission Surface Combatants for the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia’s Navy, which are similar to the Littoral Combat Ships Fincantieri has built in Marinette.
With the new activity, Fincantieri is staffing up. It plans to hire 100 workers for full-time positions this year and 400 in 2025, Dent said.
About 93% of Fincantieri Marinette Marine’s employees live within an hour of the shipyard, while the other 7% commute from farther away, Dent said. “We’ve heard from potential employees that housing was of interest when making the decision to come here to work, as well as childcare and quality schools.”
With a growing sector of workers, Marinette needs more housing, said Jacqueline Boudreau, executive director and CEO chief executive officer of the Marinette-Menominee Area Chamber of Commerce. “In particular at our shipyard at Fincantieri Marinette Marine, not only do they have employee growth to build these ships, but with these large vessels, the crew comes and stays for a year,” she said.
Marinette needs housing for families, not just for the personnel, she said. “If their family wants to be here, there just weren’t places to come to,” she said. “If you want to move to the area and bridge to employment, or get a feel for it before you buy a home, there was no place to rent,” Boudreau said.
Now that’s changing, as some 400 new housing units are being planned or developed. They include executive level apartments, condos and single-family homes, she said.
The Reserve is offering 108 pet-friendly executive apartments at 2501 University Dr. between Aurora Medical Center – Bay Area. and the Marinette County Jail, Genisot said. Another new development is planned for where the old Knitting Mill, destroyed in a fire in 2018, was located 1650 Pierce Ave.
The old Garfield School, at 1615 Carney, which the Marinette School District closed after the 2021-22 school year in a rightsizing effort, also could be converted into housing if an accepted offer for the property receives zoning approval.
“Businesses are all trying to recruit people to come here and stay here and live here, so you want to have some options,” Boudreau said. “If you’re a single person and you’re going to move here, there has to be different options. The housing has to have a communal aspect for people to gather in neighborhoods. If you don’t know anyone and you don’t make any friends, why would you stay? This is really being coordinated or discussed at the city level,” she said.
To encourage developers to build in Marinette instead of other nearby communities, Marinette has put in place three Tax-Increment Financial projects in the past 12 months to provide a public subsidy for the redevelopments, paving the way for new construction, Genisot said. While each TIF agreement varies in details, they generally provide public infrastructure and other subsidies for necessary improvements for new housing or other developments.
A TIF will help Tycore Built complete plans for 22 single family homes on a north campus and 174 market-rate apartments on a south campus on the site of the old Bay Area Hospital. “We’re planning on starting five homes immediately as soon as the roads go in that will be up for sale,” Micoley said. While located a short distance from an area where “forever chemicals” were detected in ground water, the homes shouldn’t be affected as they will have their water supplied by the City of Marinette, Micoley said. The home’s features can be customized for the first owners. “Many times what happens is people come in as the house is built and they can pick out what they want,” he said. The price point for three bedroom, two bath homes is $299,000, including the lot, he said. “It’s not the McMansions that are being built. It’s all about really good quality houses at really good affordable prices,” he said. The company is building about 80 houses a year, which allows it better pricing, he said.
With a goal of attracting more families, the City of Marinette is planning to replace the kiddie pool by the Civic Center next year with a more modern 1,400-square-foot Splashpad featuring fountains to run through and large splash buckets that dump water periodically, Genisot said. It’s also planning to redo Main Street with a brickscape and places for outdoor dining.
Three or four vacant sites near Golden Sands Mobile Home Court, 3400 Pierce Ave., also are expected to be developed, he said.
“Definitely there is a housing shortage with most of the manufacturing and businesses growing. They’re putting a strain on houses that are available,” Genisot said.
Affordable housing also is important to Marinette, as Lutheran Social Services of Wisconsin and Upper Michigan learned when Trolley Station Terrace
Apartments opened at 1529 Main St. in 2022. The social service agency manages the facility, which features 45 rental units and no vacancies currently, said Deairra Rodman, property manager.
“They fill up quickly. I just had one give me notice and within a week the big unit was already applied for and approved. We don’t typically have vacancies too long,” she said.
Trolley Station offers Section 42 housing and income-restricted rental pricing, she said.
We take a look at income limits based on household size. From there it tells us what category they’re in” so the unit can be priced accordingly. Newcap owns Trolley Station Terrace Apartment and The Village on the Water cottages and townhomes at 100 Anchor Drive near the Menominee River in Marinette, Rodman said.
At Trolley Station, a two-person household with annual income of no more than $20,790 would pay 30% of market rate rent, or $370 for a one-bedroom, while a two-person household with income of no more than $41,500 would pay 60% of market-rate rent or $785 for a one-bedroom apartment. The units all feature in-unit washer-dryers, dishwaters, refrigerators, ranges, microwaves and individualized air-conditioning units. Water, trash, sewer and heat are included, while tenants pay for electricity, Rodman said.
Marinette homeowners with limited income also can apply for financial assistance for siding, windows and roofs in Brown County, which handles requests for northeast Wisconsin, Genisot said.
“A lot of stock is aged,” he said. “It needs to be renovated, but it’s amazing what some of our older homes are selling for because of demand.”
Three or four vacant sites near Golden Sands Mobile Home Court, 3400 Pierce Ave., also are expected to be developed, he said.
“Definitely there is a housing shortage with most of the manufacturing and businesses growing. They’re putting a strain on houses that are available.
