Georgia-Pacific's Day Street Mill is seen in Green Bay March 17, 2022. PC: Fox 11 Online
GREEN BAY, WI (WTAQ-WLUK) — Big and exciting changes could be on the way to downtown Green Bay at the site of the old Georgia-Pacific paper mill, which is now up for sale.
Representatives for Georgia-Pacific told Green Bay’s plan commission on Monday night they’ve had 10 to 12 interested parties tour the property since it went up for sale in October.
The mill is located at 500 Day Street on the east side, where the East River and Fox River meet. It’s been just over two years since Georgia-Pacific announced the closure its Day Street paper mill.
“Downtown Green Bay was very, very industrial, and over the last 100 years, it’s slowly changed on over, and this would be, in our minds, a natural progression of that downtown zoning,” City of Green Bay principal planner David Buck said.
Buck said city staff are recommending to rezone the nearly 50-acre site from industrial land use to downtown land use. Rezoning would helping make way for housing, offices and retail/service space.
“Our downtown is what it is. I mean, it’s landlocked, we’re built all the way around. It’s rare that you’ll get 40-60 acres of developable property,” Buck said.
Georgia-Pacific officials asked the plan commission to wait 30 days before recommending the zoning change. They said they were days away from receiving letters of intent and/or offers to purchase from developers.
The interest includes local, regional, and national developers, with some wanting to maintain at least some industrial use, according to Georgia-Pacific officials.
The plan commission voted 5 to 1 to recommend rezoning the property, with some commission members stating they wanted to keep the process moving and believed the council could change course if necessary when it takes up the issue.
The old WPS building nearby is also part of the plan to revitalize the area, offering an additional 15 acres of land. Buck said the mill and WPS site are prime real estate for pedestrians who want more access to the river — plus, it’s just 500 feet from the transit center.
Georgia-Pacific commented about the potential sale of the mill. They said, in a statement:
We have received significant interest in the Day Street property from various companies and organizations and have begun exploring the process of selling the property with Colliers Wisconsin, a third-party real estate broker. Colliers is managing all inquiries from potential buyers interested in the Day Street property and we look forward to learning more in the coming months.
The mill opened in 1901 and served Northeast Wisconsin for 122 years, even giving Green Bay its unofficial title as the “Toilet Paper Capital of the World.” But now some say, it’s time for something new.
“This is a generational opportunity to bring in a mix of uses and it gives more flexibility for the future development of the site,” executive director of Downtown Green Bay, Inc. Jeff Mirkes said.
Mirkes said he’s pleased with what the mill provided for more than a century, but thinks rezoning is the best solution to making downtown even better.
“If there are mixed use developments that could better connect it to the downtown through a variety of uses, it could really expand the downtown footprint,” Mirkes said.
So far, no proposals have been submitted for the location.
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