LETTER: Brewpub builders: ‘Show us the money or fold your tent’


The replacement for the Inventors Brewpub design approved by the city last year was rejected by a unanimous vote of the Port Washington Plan Commission on April 24. Members criticized changes in the building (left) that include decreased window space and a blank brick-and-siding western facade. Developer Gertjan van den Broek said the changes were needed because of financial issues that prevent construction of the original design. The site, which overlooks the marina and was once a city-owned parking lot, has been closed to the public since early fall 2022. A construction fence (right) now blocks the harborwalk along the marina dock, as well as the sidewalk on Washington Street and a section of the marina parking lot. Ozaukee Press file photo (lower)

 

To Ozaukee Press:

Now that Wisconsin’s favorite love child has been traded to the New York Jets, Port Washington residents can turn their attention back to a much longer running drama, the chair factory lot adjacent to the north harbor slip.

During a recent Plan Commission meeting, an alternate building plan offered by brewpub owner Adam Draeger and property owner Gertjan van den Broek was criticized and rejected by the commission.

This was van den Broek’s second attempt to develop this location. His first idea had been to build the Blues Factory.  Even after much capitulation by city officials, that project died. Prior to that project’s demise, a story in the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel dated May 1, 2019 stated, “Van(sic) den Broek said high construction prices have delayed the project, so he has changed the interior layout of the building to eliminate expensive structural and acoustic costs.” That move did not save the project.

But here we are again. In discussions prior to the brewpub ground breaking, the owner and builder asked for and received monetary concessions approved by the city because financing was tight. Even with some taxpayer money and concessions by the city, the groundbreaking was delayed and the agreed upon progress by the end of 2022 was not met.

Now we are told the building plan needs to be downscaled because, as reported in the Ozaukee Press, “the original building plan isn’t going to work, “van den Broek said, “noting that the financial and construction professionals involved in the project nixed that proposal.”

And yet the mayor suggests the principals apply for an early start permit so building can proceed without a final approval plan and without even knowing if that approval will ever be given. Or has something been decided already that has not been made known to the taxpaying public?

I can’t be the only one to see a pattern here: Offer a big plan which needs some public funding, scale down the plan saying it won’t make any difference and hope the private funding comes through.

Let’s state the obvious: This construction has not been started because the principals can not come up with the funding—period.

This is the second questionable project for this location that the developer has foisted on the city. We elect our public officials to make difficult decisions. This, however, is not hard. Show us the money or fold your tent. Sell the lot back to the city so it can be paved and the 44 parking spots returned to their rightful owner. I’m probably in the minority, but I wouldn’t complain about the increased tax.

Phil Lorge

Port Washington

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Wisconsin’s largest paid circulation community weekly newspaper. Serving Port Washington, Saukville, Grafton, Fredonia, Belgium, as well as Ozaukee County government. Locally owned and printed in Port Washington, Wisconsin.

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