Village of Sussex —The village is expected to sell $2.6 million in bonds this week that will help Brookfield entrepreneur/developer Art Sawall with a nearly 150-home residential subdivision on Maple Avenue near the village community center.
Sawall purchased the land from Waukesha State Bank, who had taken possession of the property from a developer whose plans for a residential develop fell through partly because of “The Great Recession” of 2008 and internal legal issues within the company.
As part of his plan, Sawall also purchased the community center property from the village.
Activities in the community center, including a senior lunch program and offices for the village’s park and recreation department will be moved next year to the new village hall/civic center on Main Street.
The bonds that were scheduled to be sold on Tuesday, Sept. 8, will be used for public improvements necessary in the new development called Sussex Preserve, according to Village Administrator Jeremy Smith.
The public improvements will include sanitary sewer, water, and storm water control as well as roadways and sidewalks within the subdivision.
Sawall will repay the village over a 10-year period through special assessments on the property. The village will collect an annual interest on the loans to Sawall, according to Smith
Smith compared the loans to Sawall with a similar plan the village implemented with Corner Stone Development in 2013.
Corner Stone wanted to construct about 50 high-end condominium units adjacent to the Seven Stones residential development on Highway 164 but was encountering difficulties obtaining loans from financial institutions.
The village helped pave the way for the project because of its willingness to complete work on public improvements needed for the project before the parcels for condominium units were sold, according to village officials and the developers.
The village borrowed the money through bond sales and then charged the development company annual interest of about 5 percent per parcel until the special assessments on the parcels repaid the village loan.
Smith said both village officials and developers were pleased with the success of the project that probably would not have been built without the village’s willingness to participate by initially funding the public improvements.
By Kelly Smith
Recent Comments