Marinette City Common Council addresses proposed housing development

MARINETTE – The Marinette City Common Council addressed a proposed housing development by T. Spell Development Group for property on Division St. – parcels #251-6530 and #251-2323 – at their Nov. 21 meeting.

“There are two tax parcels that are listed, one being the park itself and the other is Division Street Park immediately following across the street,” Mayor Steve Genisot said.

CEO Travis Spell gave a presentation to the council wherein he addressed the project concepts and details, the target population, their community service and management plans, potential funding sources and the proposed development timeline.

“What I’m proposing for Marinette is a 40-unit workforce/affordable housing, not just for the city, but also the shipyard. I’m a formal Navy shipmate. So I was in the United States Navy, and I think Wisconsin has a shortage of housing,” CEO Travis Spell said. “We’re 130,000 houses behind that we need to make up by 2030 and this is a perfect opportunity and a perfect community that we can help resolve that issue.”

The property would be subsidized, qualifying for the HUD Public Housing Program, which administers federal aid to private landlords for affordable housing for low-income citizens, and Low-Income Housing Tax Credit (LIHTC), which incentivizes developers to create affordable housing by providing them with tax credits they can sell to investors to fund projects.

“We’ll receive some tax credits from WHEDA,” Spell said. “I was just at the WHEDA convention on Monday and Tuesday, and got some great feedback from the governor as far as this particular city and the work that you guys have been putting in since 2021.”

Spell hopes to build an apartment complex with 40 total units with four designations: 11 units at 30% AMI, 11 units at 50% AMI, 12 units at 60% AMI and six units at market rate. Spell intends to create 22 one-bedroom units, 15 two-bedroom units and 3 three-bedroom units.

The 11 units at 30% AMI are for households which have an estimated income of about $22,000 or less annually, for a family of four.

“That represents our college students and our part time workers,” Spell said.
Other people who may qualify for units at 30% AMI include those earning minimum wage and unemployed individuals relying on public assistance.

The 11 units at 50% AMI are for households that earn about $37,000 annually for a family of four. Entry-level school teachers, social workers and nurses or healthcare aides may qualify.

The 12 units at 60% AMI are for households with an income of about $44,000 for a family of four. Some of the workers who might qualify include mid-level nurses, firefighters or police officers, administrative professionals in government or public service and teachers with a few years of experience.

Spell presented his proposed timeline for the project with acquisition in late 2024, contingent on approval from the Marinette Plan Commission, with groundbreaking tentatively scheduled for mid-2026.

“So our timeline right now is acquisition and zoning – that is going on now. From there, we work with the WHEDA application that’s due Friday, Dec. 6.

From creating that application, we go into the awarding which is in July of 2025. Then we go to our AHP award that will be at the end of 2025.

Construction starts in 2026, completion will be in 2027 and the stabilization of the complete development will be quarter two of 2027,” Spell said.

The property will be managed by Dennis Hanson of Lutheran Social Services.

City Council Member Liz Mikutowski expressed concern regarding whether a property manager would consistently be onsite, as LSS also manages 11 developments with 578 active units. Spell assured Mikutowski a property manager and a maintenance worker would be physically present in the building seven days a week.

Spell said he hopes to help tenants improve their financial literacy and provide them with a community space.

“We have surface parking in the back. We have some greenery on the left of the building, but across the street we are looking to do a dog park and also some other amenities,” he said.

City Council Member Doug Oitzinger asked if the property would be charitably owned and therefore tax exempt.

Spell informed him the property will not be tax exempt and the City of Marinette is to receive anywhere from $25-30,000 in taxes annually.

Oitzinger raised other concerns about how the community might react to the proposed housing.

“The neighborhood, as far as I know, is unaware of this proposal. You’re not having any sort of public listening, hearing what their concerns might be or they’re being in favor of it. How do you see that playing out?” he asked.

Spell acknowledged the community has not yet been a part of the process, but seemed confident the housing was a net positive.

“A lot of our developments are driven off of what the community wants and needs. In this particular situation, I understand that because of the commute for a lot of the workers, for the harbor, for the shipyard, they’re coming about an hour away, 45 minutes to hour away. So the production goes down during the winter time when there are snow storms or blizzards. We’re filling that void, and also trying to come in and find out what the community needs,” he said.

Mayor Genisot addressed Oitzinger’s question, reminding the council that this was a preliminary meeting to determine whether Marinette is interested in workforce housing.

“They would still have to go through the zoning process, which would have a public hearing. I think what Travis is looking for is if there’s interest in the city to potentially look at this site as possible redevelopment,” Genisot said.

City Council Member Debbie Klegin, who represents Ward #6 where the proposed apartments would be built, expressed her support for the project.

“I have no idea what the word the people in my ward would think, but that’s not ours to decide. As a council, we’re here to say, ‘Is this best for our community?’ And if anyone has been tracking the new build out by the hospital, yeah, there’s a big need in this community for this type of housing,” she said. “Is that the best spot? I don’t know, but that’s to be determined, and at this point in time, we’d be crazy to not encourage someone to come to this area with something we need, and explore it, and then we’ll just deal with it step by step, and then get input from the community. So personally, I think it’s a great idea.”

Common Council Member Rick Polzin made a motion to submit a cosigned letter of intent for T. Spell to purchase the property, contingent on the requirements to sell the park. Council Member Dorothy Kowalksi seconded the motion, and all voted in favor of submitting a letter of intent.