Neenah approves sale of Shattuck to local developer, who plans to make apartments

NEENAH – After much discussion, the Neenah school board has approved the sale of the Shattuck Middle School property to a local developer with a passion for old buildings.

At a meeting Tuesday night, the board signed off on the sale to Umer Sheikh, of Neenah-based Investment Creations, LLC for $500,001. The vote was 7 to 2 with Lindsay Clark and Tara Brzezinski not in support.

After board member Michelle Swardenski made an original motion to approve the sale, Clark said she didn’t feel confident voting without the opportunity for more discussion. Clark said she learned new information within the past week or two, so she came into Tuesday’s meeting with more questions than answers.

Some of those questions were answered after Sheikh spent 25 minutes fielding questions about his plan for the property. However, Clark still wanted to postpone the vote to September, which did not happen.

Sheikh originally spoke during the public comment portion of the meeting and welcomed any questions from community members after the meeting. It was Clark who suggested he take questions from the board because, she said, the board had not had the opportunity to talk with him yet.

Before making a motion to approve the sale, Swardenski took a moment to reflect on the variety of opinions community members expressed during public comment. They ran the gamut of support and opposition for the Investment Creations offer, but ultimately, all came from a place of caring for their community, she said.

She juxtaposed the sale of Shattuck with the grand-opening celebration of the new high school that happened this past weekend.

The community went from “celebrating how amazing change can be with the new high school,” to facing a decision that has drawn a divide.

Not everyone will be excited about it, she said, but “this is what the beginning of change looks like.”

How many housing units would the Investment Creations plan create?

Investment Creations is planning for 34 to 48 market-rate apartments in the Shattuck building. Sheikh said he envisions them each being about 1,000 square-feet.

Walking through Shattuck, he said, he saw a lot of possibilities with the space.

“If I walk into a building and it’s not talking back to me, I walk out,” Sheikh said during the meeting. “Shattuck was loud.”

About 50 to 60 single-family homes would be on the rest of the property. There wouldn’t be any condominiums, duplexes or other shared housing — outside of the apartments.

Sheikh said he doesn’t have specifics on green space or retention ponds because that will depend on conversations with the city and the topography of the land itself.

More: Another developer wants to turn Shattuck Middle School into apartments, single-family homes

There were higher offers, but they would actually yield less money for the district

In a letter publicly available on the board’s website, the district addressed why the highest offer on the table wouldn’t have actually left the district with more money than the Investment Creation offer.

The highest offer the district received was from Mequon-based developer Lakeside for $1.3 million. With that offer, the district would have needed to relocate its wellness center away from the current Shattuck location. The wellness center sees patients ages 6 months and older and offers many of the same services one would receive from a primary care physician.

The district obtained two cost estimates from local engineers and construction companies to move the wellness center. Based on those estimates, it could cost the district anywhere from $870,000 to more than $1 million, not including equipment and furnishings.

Considering the cost to move the wellness center, Lakeside’s offer would leave the district with roughly $300,000 to $430,000.

Contingencies also make the higher offer less attractive

The only contingency on the Investment Creations offer is that the district keep and operate the wellness clinic at the current site.

All other plans and negotiations would be with the city of Neenah, not the school district.

Lakeside’s offer has a contingency of obtaining a “developer funded tax incremental financing” for about $2.6 million. The sale would not be able to go through without the city approving that.

According to a letter from the Director of Community Development and Assessment Chris Haese to the district, it’s “highly unlikely” the city would be able to go through with the tax incremental finance (TIF) for Lakeside.

It’s unlikely because a mixed-use TIF district requires the land be used for more than just single-family homes, the letter says. Lakeside’s plan would also likely require the entire site to be replatted, which is above the limit allowed under the TIF district.

Haese was also present at Tuesday’s meeting via Zoom to answer clarifying questions from board members on TIF.

When a municipality creates a TIF district, all of the additional property taxes generated from new development in the district — the increment — is set aside to cover costs incurred or promised by the municipality to bring about that development. The tax revenues from the increment are diverted from the school district, county and technical college for as long as the district is in place.

Lakeside discussed the possibility of a TIF with the city at least two times, Haese said in the letter. On both occasions, city staff said it would be unlikely.

More: Two factors have pushed Wisconsin teachers from classrooms: Act 10 and COVID

Reach AnnMarie Hilton at ahilton@gannett.com or 920-370-8045. Follow her on Twitter at @hilton_annmarie.

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This article originally appeared on Appleton Post-Crescent: Neenah approves sale of Shattuck to Investment Creations, Umer Skeikh