Wangard begins construction of Mount Pleasant apartments

Wangard Partners Inc. has commenced construction of the first two phases of its new apartment development in Mount Pleasant.

The project will provide hundreds of new units in an area where there is a need for more, and newer, housing options, according to the Wauwatosa-based developer.

Named Tivoli Green, the apartments are going up on a site west of 90th Street, north of where the street meets Campus Drive. The site sits just north of Mount Pleasant Village Hall, and nearly four miles from where Highway 20 interchanges with I-94.

Stewart Wangard, chief executive officer of Wangard Partners, said the first two phases of the project consist of 278 multi-family units. Construction on the first phase, which includes 152 units, commenced within the last couple of weeks. The next 126-unit phase is expected to get underway within the next few months.

The approximately $50 million project includes 13 buildings, each containing either 20 or 23 units. It is financed through a combination of a construction and permanent loan.

The first building is slated to be finished in July, said Wangard, with another building being delivered about every four weeks thereafter. Construction of a club house will begin shortly after work on the second phase commences. Wangard said plans aren’t yet finalized for the club house, but it would likely be at least 5,000 square feet.

Wangard said Tivoli Green will provide new apartments for residents who work at one of the number of major nearby employers but can’t find housing that’s close to where they work.

“There’s a tremendous need for housing from the (workers) that have been traditionally located in Racine,” he said.

Specifically, Wangard noted the apartments will be close to the Foxconn complex, the Case IH Mount Pleasant manufacturing facility at 2701 Oakes Road; Advocate Aurora Health’s under-construction 96-acre medical center and office complex at the northeast corner of I-94 and Highway 20; InSinkErator’s new headquarters at 1250 International Drive; and the Amtrak station in Sturtevant.

Wangard said the area has seen an 11% growth in jobs since 2010, and that the housing market hasn’t kept up with that pace.

“This is the first modern market-rate multi-family project that has been built in the last 20 years in the greater Racine area,” he said. “This community needs quite a bit more housing.”

And the developer has plans to deliver even more housing than the initial nearly 300 units. Wangard said his firm owns 100 acres of land total, and the buildings being constructed in the first two phases account for about 25 acres.

Plans for future phases of Tivoli Green haven’t been made final, he said.