When you drive down 8th Street in Downtown Sheboygan you can see that excavation of the former Boston Store is well underway. Northcentral Construction is the general contractor and they have hired Spielvogel Excavating to assist with the excavation for the basement parking garage. The plan is to complete the excavation in the next few weeks and then start pouring footings and foundations. In October, Northcentral should start building walls for the new apartment building.
As this is going on, City staff and HKM Architects have been busy finalizing the plans for bidding of the art/culture square, view here bit.ly/2bgI5jJ. As part of the developer’s agreement, the City is responsible for developing the space to hold arts and culture related events on this property to energize the property as a place where people want to be. The proposed project consists of a 30 inch high concrete stage just north of New York Avenue with a metal roof structure over the stage. The stage will also incorporate the sculpture art stage and recording studio called M.I.K.E. which is the orange grain bin looking spaceship that the Arts Center has used for the Thursday night concerts.
The City will also be installing LED lights and trees. As recommended in the downtown master plan, a concrete walk will be installed to connect 8th Street and the front of the Mead Public Library to the John Michael Kohler Arts Center and provide a pedestrian connection between these two cultural venues. Construction of this space will occur in two phases. This fall, the concrete work, storm sewer and electrical will be installed and next spring the stage, roof, and final restoration and sod planting will be completed. The goal is to use this space for next year’s concert series starting in July.
As part of the 2016 Levitt AMP concert series, the Arts Center has been asking people to name this performance space. A crowd sourcing voting venue will be used once the nomination process is completed. If you are interested in submitting a name for the space, please send an email to development@SheboyganWI.gov.
This space is being designed to provide civic and cultural groups in the community a venue to have their events. The City has not issued a call for entertainment events, because the space needs to be developed first, but will entertain requests for arts/cultural related performances to energize this space. If your group has an interest in the use of the space other than Thursday’s during June, July and August, please contact the Development office.
The City will be funding these improvements with tax incremental financing funds and a $250,000 Community Development Investment grant received from the Wisconsin Economic Development Corporation. TIF dollars are generated from the new tax increment created as a result of the development. So in the case of the former Boston Store property, the Boston Store was assessed at $3.9M and the new development is $10.7M. The new increment of $6.8M will generate the taxes to pay for the improvements. There is no direct property tax used to fund these improvements. Sheboygan Squared Business District and the City have worked diligently on this project since the concept was presented in the master plan. We are excited that this project is coming together as a place that will foster our creative economy and further the economic development initiatives of Sheboygan.