The empty lot at the southeast corner of Baird and Main Streets in Green Bay. PC: Fox 11 Online
GREEN BAY, WI (WTAQ-WLUK) — The city of Green Bay wants to declare a prominent Main Street property as blighted so it can potentially acquire it.
“This is one of those properties that’s been on the back burner for quite a while,” said Jeff Mirkes, executive director of Olde Main Street District, Inc.
Just down the street from Green Bay East High School, the southeast corner of Main and Baird Streets has been an eyesore for decades.
It was previously declared as blighted in 2005 and 2016.
Demolition occurred in 2017 and 2020 for buildings that are estimated to have been built around 1940 .
“I’ve been hearing from adjacent property owners, Olde Main Street business owners, people who live in that neighborhood and they’re always asking when is something going to be done with that ugly site on Main Street,” said Mirkes.
Something is now being done. The city is trying to use Wisconsin’s Blight Elimination and Slum Clearance Act so it can obtain the property while mitigating any liability for environmental cleanup.
“We’ve got likely some contamination in the soil there,” said Matt Buchanan, deputy development director for the City of Green Bay. “There are remnants of a former building. We’ve got a river wall that’s not in great shape. There’s infrastructure underneath the ground that can’t be avoided for development, so it’s a pretty difficult site to develop.”
City officials say the property owner, Nuland Group II LLC, is on board with the city’s plans and it likely wouldn’t cost much to acquire the nearly one-acre property.
“It’s a great location,” said Buchanan. “It could be a really great site for some recreational opportunities with it being right on the East River, but we still have to do our due diligence before we can really understand what comes next.”
The hope is to know more about what’s possible for future development in the next few months.
The city’s Redevelopment Authority provided initial approval of declaring the property as blighted on Tuesday.
The full city council is set to have the final say at its meeting next week.
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