Mequon plans include brewery, offices, housing

Mixed-use proposal to be discussed on Aug. 7

A new version of a plan to develop a craft brewery and other commercial buildings in Mequon has been filed with city officials.

A group led by Thomas Nieman is proposing a restaurant in a historic former brewery, a separate craft brewery, other retail and office buildings, as well as around 100 apartments and some single-family homes.

Those buildings would be south of W. Mequon Road, between N. Buntrock Ave. and the railroad tracks, said Jac Zader, Mequon assistant community development director.

Nieman, president of highend pet food maker Fromm Family Foods LLC, is working with apartment developer P2 Development Co. and home builder Lakeside Development Co. on the mixed-use proposal, Zader said Thursday.

Their plans are scheduled to undergo conceptual review by the Plan Commission at its Aug. 7 meeting, Zader said. The proposal includes:

Converting a 19th-century former brewery building, 6411 W. Mequon Road, into a 6,800-square-foot restaurant and beer hall known as Foxtown Brewery. That building once was home to the Opitz and Zimmermann Brewery, and was later used for other industrial purposes. It was sold in 2015 to Mequon Brewing Co., led by Nieman.

Building the separate 13,100-square-foot Fox Yard Brewery in a converted industrial building along the railroad tracks, east of Industrial Drive. Nieman last year pitched a brewery as part of a 105,000-square-foot building in Mequon Business Park that would have included Fromm's new headquarters.

Four additional office and retail buildings, with a two-story building east of the restaurant, along Mequon Road, and a two-story building and a pair of three-story buildings in the middle of the site. The three-story buildings would each include 11 apartments on the top floors.

Around 100 luxury apartments in a pair of three-story buildings, and 23 lots for single-family houses. Those residential uses would be on the site's southern portion.