St. Francis buys lakefront area site
The City of St. Francis has bought a long-vacant site near the lakefront with hopes of attracting a commercial development.
The city paid $3.54 million for the 12.7-acre parcel at 3707 S. Lake Drive, according to newly filed state real estate records. It is bordered by Lake Drive, Packard Avenue and Howard Avenue.
The seller was Market Square LLC, an affiliate of Mandel Group Inc.
The Milwaukee-based firm bought the site in 2007, and initially hoped to land a supermarket to anchor a retail project.
The land sale came after a development plan pitched by Mandel Group had "a lower density" than what city officials wanted, said Robert Monnat, a firm senior partner.
The land sale allows the city to drive its vision for higher density, he said, with Mandel Group to pursue a development on the site without continued carrying costs for the land.
However, another firm could end up developing the site.
"While we relinquish control of the site we would rather not have to continue the expense of carrying the land along with the substantial predevelopment costs associated with a more complex higher-density development," Monnat told the Journal Sentinel.
City officials didn't respond to requests for more information about their vision for the land.
St. Francis has seen more lakefront residential development lately.
The 214-unit Mariner Apartments, 4000 S. Lake Drive, was completed in 2019, and the 236-unit 4200 On The Lake, 4200 S. Lake Drive, just opened this spring.
Those new projects increase the likelihood that a mixed-use development which includes retail can be developed on the city-owned site, Monnat said.
The city paid $3.54M for the parcel at 3707 S. Lake Drive.