Cherry Lanes Arcade Bar in Sturgeon Bay. PC: Fox 11 Online
STURGEON BAY, WI (WTAQ-WLUK) — Just off the main drag in Sturgeon Bay is a 7,500-square-foot establishment that features an arcade, a bar, and some of the oldest bowling lanes in the state.
Upstairs lies another 7,500-square-foot space, which is now unused and mainly houses storage for the downstairs bar and old, original signs, art, and arcade games that came with the nearly 100-year-old building.
“This building was originally built as a recreational hall so upstairs is a very large ballroom,” says Moira Callan, who bought the Cherry Lanes Arcade Bar with her business partner Steve LeFevre in early 2024.
But it’s that empty space, outdated and out-of-code space that drew Callan to the business.
“This will be the back entrance, and you’re exactly right with a hallway, there’s a studio right there,” Callan explains.
In the next year, eight affordable housing units will instead fill the space.
“Three studio apartments and five one-bedrooms,” Callan says.
The project will cost around $650,000 in total, but more than half the funding will come from state and local affordable housing grants, including the Door County Workforce Housing Lending Corporation, which awarded $250,000, and a competitive $160,000 ‘Restore Main Street’ loan from the Wisconsin Housing and Economic Development Authority (WHEDA).
The business below also helps fund the project.
The city of Sturgeon Bay says the new units are a welcome addition to the downtown community.
A 2019 study of housing in the Door Peninsula especially highlighted the lack of workforce housing in Sturgeon Bay. Even with the 500 new units that have come online since that study, city officials say that any new housing, including affordable and income-fixed, is still greatly needed in the city.
Callan says that’s part of what drove their project.
“This area just has such a need for affordable housing and the industry that’s located here that provides so much to the state of Wisconsin, the US as a whole, it just felt as though it was something we could really make an impact with,” she says.
Callan has invested in other Northeast Wisconsin communities with under 10,000 residents and sees the same workforce housing gap, too.
To qualify as affordable anywhere, rent can’t be more than 30% of the area’s median household income. In Sturgeon Bay, the median household income sits at $55,791, which means just shy of $1,400 per month is considered affordable.
“Rent will be anywhere from $800 to $950 per month,” Callan says about the Cherry Lanes units.
Sturgeon Bay is home to other affordable units too, some of which can be rented for as little as $475/month, and up to $1195/month, depending on the complex and number of bedrooms in the units.
Market rate apartments in the community range from $750/month to $2500/month, also depending on the complex and number of bedrooms in the units.
Callan says construction is slated to begin in the coming weeks, and they hope to have at least three units done by this coming summer, and the rest by the end of the year.
Construction will include soundproofing so tenants don’t hear the music or crash of bowling pins from the popular business below.
Those interested in applying for the units can keep up to date on the project and join the rental information waitlist by clicking here.
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