boost for Grafton redevelopment
Cedarburg-based Ozaukee Bank will construct a 7,700-square-foot two-story facility in a $1.5 million project that will advance efforts to redevelop downtown Grafton, bank president Dean Fiting and village president Rick Leach announced.
Ozaukee Bank will purchase two parcels at the intersections of Highway 50 and 12th Avenue. Those two parcels, now owned by the village, will be combined with two adjacent parcels for the bank project. The village-owned parcels were acquired by the village last year and had been previously occupied by the Riebe Oldsmobile dealership. The dealership buildings were razed last year.
Grafton is working to redevelop its downtown. The redevelopment plan calls for new housing, a service and office sector, and the improvements to the right-of-way.
Ozaukee Bank announced that it would construct its new facility this summer. The bank office will occupy the first floor while Class A office space will be available on the second floor. There will also be basement space. The bank facility will have four drive-up lanes.
A December opening of the bank is planned.
The bank will maintain its headquarters on Columbia Road in Cedarburg, near the Cedarburg-Grafton border. It also has branches in Thiensville, Mequon and Port Washington.
Leach praised the bank’s plans. "I am appreciative of Ozaukee Bank for its investment in the downtown, especially in light of the typical conservative nature of banks," he said after the plans were approved by the village board on Feb. 5.
And village administrator Darrell Hofland added, "Ozaukee Bank took great care in designing a building that architecturally fits the location, not only due to its presence on a high-visibility intersection but due to the property’s urban setting. There will be no mistaking that the building is a bank." The structure will have a limestone exterior while the property will include a fountain.
The village has budgeted funds to reconstruct Highway 60 in downtown. The project includes the redesign of the northeast corner of the intersection to facilitate the turning movement of traffic.
Earlier, General Capital Group of Mequon had announced plans to construct The Berkshire, a 66-unit elderly housing development on a former industrial site in downtown Grafton.
