Rendering of the proposed Green Bay Public Market (Image courtesy On Broadway)
GREEN BAY, WI (WTAQ-WLUK) — About $5.5 million is still needed to bring a public market to Green Bay, but leaders said Tuesday they are confident they have a plan to make it happen.
It comes as public concern about the project has been growing. The opening date has been pushed back three times, with increased costs cited as the reason.
Converting the Old Fort Square Building on Broadway into the Green Bay Public Market has been at a standstill in recent months.
The project was first announced in 2022 and was initially scheduled to open in 2023. The opening was then pushed back to right before the NFL Draft last April, and then moved to 2026. Now, those leading the project say construction should resume in the second quarter of this year.
“Construction costs, interest rates, material shortages were absolutely haywire in the post-COVID era,” said Garritt Bader, a board member for On Broadway, Inc. “The simple answer is, big projects take time.”
Bader and On Broadway President Brian Johnson provided a detailed presentation to Green Bay’s Redevelopment Authority, as it requested to amend the market’s completion date from the end of 2025 to the end of 2027.
The pair says it is possible the market could open earlier than the end of 2027.
They say $21.7 million is pledged to the project, with the budget currently sitting at $27.2 million. The plan to close that gap is to secure $2.25 million from two state grants, $2 million in federal tax credits and about $1.25 million in donations.
“We have the donors lined up for that. They just want to see the whole project come together,” Johnson said.
Johnson noted $1.6 million in tax credits that were previously pledged have expired, but says the plan is to work with the federal agency to renew the funding.
Leaders were quiet for the past few months on where the project stands. While some updates were provided, a full financial picture was not provided. How come it took so long for leaders to provide this update?
“It’s a great question. We were really, when the numbers came up, when they escalated, our hope was really to be able to find a source to plug that before we had to go public and make an appeal for additional funding from different sources. That was really what the governor’s budget was about,” Johnson said.
Johnson is talking about $3 million for the market that was taken out of the state budget just before it passed this past summer.
About $2.1 million in local taxpayer money has already been pledged for the public market project. That could go up by another million dollars over 25 years from tax revenue the project generates. However, only $500,00 has been issued so far.
Redevelopment authority member Melanie Parma, of Somerville Architects, questioned the project’s construction costs rising about 40% from its original estimate of $8 million to now about $15 million.
“Usually I would see contractors giving themselves a little fluff in estimates,” said Parma. “Coming with a 40% increase, it’s not typical, certainly not typical. I understand and can feel for your situation.”
“Mechanical and electrical and plumbing, because of the types of users you have I think that’s probably one of the notable areas where the numbers really jumped,” said Johnson when asked to explain the jump.
Johnson says initial estimates for the impact of the market are still valid including $65 million in annual economic impact, which he says came from Discover Green Bay. He says the project is also still expected to trigger $100 million in new development in the area.
An initial estimate of 1 million visitors each year also holds, according to Johnson – but he clarified that projection will build up over time and is expected to come true in the market’s fifth year.
Comments