Options sought for empty building

The owners of the site of Belgium’s former grocery store are looking for help to rent the property.

David and Bobi Schultz on Monday asked the Plan Commission for ideas.

“What we’re looking for is some advice, suggestions on what we can do with the property there,” David said. “I think there’s really potential, but I can’t see the future so I don’t know what that potential is. It’s such a nice building.”

The 22,000-square-foot building on the 11.9-acre site at 465 S. Royal Ave. has been vacant since the grocery store closed in 2008 after barely a year in business.

The Schultzes bought the building in 2013. They have a history in renovations, remodeling Memories Ballroom in the Town of Port Washington in the 1990s before selling it in 2003.

Of their current building, David said, they’ve offered rent “practically for nothing just to get somebody in there” without success.

The vacancy isn’t been from a lack of effort. The Schultzes have listed the property with three different realtors, had it on the national website LoopNet and have sent out hundreds of brochures after going through the phone book and picking out potential tenants.

They’ve contacted Walgreens, Aldi, implement and lawn and garden businesses — “I can’t name the number of people we’ve talked to,” David said.

Bobi said the the one reason they keep getting turned down is because Belgium is too small. It has 2,374 people.

“It all comes down to rooftops. There’s just not  enough,” she said. “Especially since that (grocery) store didn’t make it, nobody else wants to. You haven’t expanded that much.”

The couple’s latest idea is to split the land and turn a portion of the property into multifamily housing with four-unit buildings like Ansay Development Corp. has constructed elsewhere in the village, but that would require a zoning change. The property is zoned B-2 Community Business District, which allows for a variety of retail stores, restaurants, churches, recreation and health facilities.

Plan Commission member Dan Birenbaum isn’t so sure about putting in multifamily housing, questioning how it would look in a neighborhood with a grocery store building and Buechler Farms, which runs a pumpkin farm, holds barn weddings, circuses and rodeos and continues to operate as a farm.

“It’s set up for retail shops all the way around,” he said. “I would kind of like to see it stay B-2 yet.”

He asked Clerk Julie Lesar for the percentages of types of housing in the village. According to 2017 statistics, Lesar said, Belgium has 78% single-family housing with a 65% optimal rate, 13% duplexes (16% optimal), 3% multifamily (7%) and 6% condos (9%).

Birenbaum asked for updated numbers, which Lesar said she would find.

David asked if senior apartments could work on the property.

Commission member Clem Gottsacker noted the village doesn’t have any senior housing now, although some is proposed.

Birenbaum came back to the fact that previous boards had a vision and comprehensive plan for the land.

“We’ve got to do some thinking here. It’s not an easy decision to make, in my opinion,” he said.

There are other possibilities.

Bobi said they know one woman who refinishes old furniture who is looking for space so she doesn’t have to use her garage, and another woman who wants a 10-by-10-foot spot for crafts.

Regardless of the use, the building would need some work. Bobi said that when the bank took back the building years ago, the sprinklers broke. Drywall and metal elements and lights had to be taken down, and she said it wasn’t done gently. Insulation got wet and was removed so that would have to be replaced.

“Right now it’s a shell of a building. My lawn mower is in there,” she said. “It’s not even set up for a grocery store. They would have to start from square one.”

The Schultzes have been reluctant to improve the building without knowing who will rent it for what purpose.

“We don’t want to do much until we know what’s going to go into it because we might do it one way and somebody else might want it another way,” Bobi said.

The couple continues to pay taxes and insurance on the property and so far has had one offer to purchase it that was for less money than they put into it.

“It’s a shame. It’s a beautiful location,” Bobi said. “There are options. We just don’t know what to do.”

If the Schultzes try to split the property for multifamily housing, fees would be required for the rezoning process, along with Plan Commission approval.

“If we’re being told we want to keep it as it is we don’t want to pay the fees,” Bobi said.