Ansay buys Port bluff land from We Energies

PORT WASHINGTON - Ansay Development purchased 23 acres of bluff land south of the We Energies power plant in Port Washington last month.

The property, which had been on the market since 2018, was sold on Feb. 13 for $850,000 to Port Washington Bluff LLC, according to the Ozaukee County Register of Deeds office.

Michael Ansay, president of Ansay Development, is the registered agent for Port Washington Bluff LLC.

The land is on the east side of South Wisconsin Street just north of the Prairie’s Edge subdivision and stretches east to the lakefront.

When the land went on the market with an asking price of $1.38 million, utility spokesmen said that the company had no use for the property.

Ian McCain, Ansay’s design construction manager, confirmed the purchase Tuesday but said it’s too early to say what the company will do with the land.

“We have no plans,” he said. “It’s just too early.

“We’re literally working through what we might do.”

But, he said, the company isn’t looking to build a headquarters on the property.

That’s something Ansay proposed almost 10 years ago when it considered purchasing 44 acres just south of this property — where the Prairie’s Edge subdivision is being built today.

Ansay had proposed building a corporate headquarters, training center and boutique hotel on the land, saying the work would be done in phases over an indefinite period. The city went so far as to apply for a state grant to aid in the development, something it did not ultimately receive.

After months of exclusive negotiations between the city and Ansay, the city opted to open talks with other developers.

When the city was considering three development proposals for the land that today is the Prairie’s Edge subdivision, We Energies had said it would consider offers for its parcel, but nothing came to fruition.

At that time, the utility said it would only consider commercial uses for the land, a condition that was dropped when the property went on the market in 2018.