KIMBERLY, WI (WTAQ) – Since 2008, there hasn’t been really anything built on a good piece of riverfront property in Kimberly where the New Page Mill used to be located, but that’s about to change.
Ground broke Thursday on The Cedars at Kimberly.
A little more than $12 million of public and private funding is going into the project.
For nearly a decade the former NewPage mill has gone unused in Kimberly. Village administrator Adam Hammatt says Thursday started a new era.
“It opens up a lot of opportunities for growth and things in the future for the Village of Kimberly. So we’re just excited about that”
State and local leaders ceremonially broke ground at the site that will some day be the Cedars.
The project will cover 90 acres near the river with parks, commercial real estate, homes and apartments.
The Wisconsin Economic Development Grant chipped in a half a million dollar grant.
Mark Maley, the public affairs director for the WEDC, says communities need development downtown and on water fronts. That’s what young professionals and families are looking for.
“People wanna be near those types of things. So this is truly economic development and it goes well-beyond Kimberly. It goes throughout the area and throughout the region”
Hammatt told us losing the NewPage mill meant a loss of hundreds of jobs and millions from the tax base.
He said this development will turn things around.
“When the paper mill was here we had a tax base of about $36 million. We’re hoping for between $100 and $150 million”
The timeline for completion of the Cedars is anywhere from 5 to 15 years. The village administrator explained developers will likely move faster, or slower, depending on the economy.
