Rendering of a building proposed by New Land Enterprises for the empty parking lot on Cherry Street, between Adams and Washington streets, in downtown Green Bay. (Image courtesy city of Green Bay)
GREEN BAY, WI (WTAQ-WLUK) — Community members agree housing is a big need for Green Bay.
However, some like Spring Lake Church, have concerns about the possibility of a new apartment complex being put up right next door.
“We want to see people come downtown. We want to reach them and serve them just as we do everyone else but we’re really hoping our issues will be addressed,” said Bill Van Kirk, the downtown site Pastor for Spring Lake Church.
An eight-story building has been proposed at the corner of Cherry and Adams Streets.
The complex would be located at 221 Cherry Street.
It’s currently used as a parking lot.
Spring Lake Church is worried about how close the new structure would be to their entrance, which faces Cherry Street.
“We have like 400 to 450 people coming every week and we have events throughout the week so naturally when you build development in the parking lot that we’re utilizing, that provides a lot of issues for us,” added Van Kirk.
New Land Enterprises, the Milwaukee-based developer who proposed the complex, says there would be roughly 20 feet of space between the two buildings.
Another concern from the church and others in the community is parking.
“We have children, we have elderly that, trying to get them to the church, that surface lot was very convenient,” said Paul Sauvey with Spring Lake Church.
“We want to make sure that we support existing businesses and the existing neighbors and make sure that they have their concerns hears, and that we can help collaborate with the city and the other partners and make sure that we can come up with good solutions for parking,” said Joey Wisniewski with New Land Enterprises.
The complex would bring an additional 268 living units to the area.
Studio apartments would go for about 13-hundred dollars per month.
Larger two-bedroom units would go between 23 and 24-hundred.
There would also be about five-thousand square feet of retail space, which could include businesses like a cafe.
City leaders believe there will still be easily accessible parking for anyone coming to the downtown area.
“we have almost 18-hundred parking stalls that are, you know, currently available for regular use so when we look at developments like this we always want to understand the constraints that it creates within our parking infrastructure but right now as it stands we do have a really strong capacity,” said Brian Johnson, 9th District Alderperson.
No plans are finalized, but New Land hopes to begin construction in October.
They expect work to take about 21 months.
If a plan is approved, city leaders say the Packers Heritage Trail Plaza would have to be moved, but it’s currently unclear where that could be.
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