WAUSAU, WI (WSAU) — At the site of the former Ponderosa Motel stands a new 16-unit apartment building, with another to come in the next few months.
City officials and representatives from Emmerich Properties held a grand opening on Monday in front of the building, which welcomes its first residents earlier this month and will likely be filled before the end of the year. Susan Lang with Emmerich says that they saw a lot of positives in working with the city to bring affordable-rate housing to the neighborhood while getting rid of a longtime eyesore.
“It’s great for a government, public and private, partnership,” said Lang. “When it works well, it’s how it should be done. Without the land value being presented at a very fair rate between the county and the city, we would not have been able to do this at all.”
Rents in the building range from $650 to $800, which she says is unheard of for new construction but something they were able to make work thanks to that partnership and the ability to bring a second building into the picture. “With what’s been happening in our economy- price increases and everything, the actual cost ended up being significantly higher. We had to work to keep the rent at a rate for our target audience,” she said. “[We] figured out a way to do two properties, 32 units versus just 16, spreading those costs out amongst the two buildings.”
In addition to the benefits of the public-private partnership, Lang says the location was also attractive to Emmerich. The building is centrally located between Wausau and neighboring communities and is also on a Wausau MetroRide bus route. “With the tenants we are looking to attract, it was really important. That was targeted as well.”
Emmerich is expected to begin construction on the second building soon. No timeline for when that will be ready for occupancy was given.
