A health insurance executive and local property investor has purchased several Pewaukee Lake properties with hopes to eventually redevelop some of them.
Tim Kaja and his wife Lilly Kaja purchased the properties located at W278 N2345, W278 N2345, W278 N2361, W278 N2326, W278 N2337 and W278 N2361 Prospect Ave. in the City of Pewaukee late last month for a combined $3.7 million.
Five of the parcels consist of single-family rental homes, most of which are located across the street from the lakeshore itself. The other two are home to the building and parking lot of local watering hole Gina’s Sports Dock, located on the lake at W278 N2345 Prospect Ave.
Jim Barry, Kurt Van Dyke, and David Buckley of
The Barry Company brokered the deal. The seller of the residential properties was a limited liability company affiliated with Pewaukee attorney Kathryn Sawyer Gutenkunst. The seller of the Gina Sports Dock properties was the H. Coleman Norris Revocable Trust, which lists a nearby City of Pewaukee mailing address.
Kaja said he doesn’t have any plans yet for the properties but would like to someday redevelop the land where the aging, smaller rental homes are located into newer housing.
As a loyal customer of Gina’s Sports Dock himself, Kaja said he would just love to see the longtime bar and grill’s current building improved, possibly rebuilt.
“I live on Rocky Point Road, and we have been going to that bar for a long time. Our first interest is to preserve the nature and the feel of that whole establishment,” Kaja said. “Gina’s bar is a really important landmark there, so we want to work with that community and have all the community feel engaged.”
The area along Prospect Avenue had previously been eyed by another local developer for a dense residential development, but never made it past a conceptual phase as it was met with opposition from both residents and local officials.