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Real Estate Spotlight: Much-needed housing development could finally be picking up in booming Kenosha County

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Dec 10, 2024 1:46 pm

Rendering of the 215-unit residential project proposed by Milwaukee-based Sagewind Development on the former Dairyland Greyhound Park site in Kenosha. Credit: Kahler Slater

RE-Spotlight-Dairyland-120924-kahler slater — Rendering of the 215-unit residential project proposed by Milwaukee-based Sagewind Development on the former Dairyland Greyhound Park site in Kenosha. Credit: Kahler Slater

It’s been widely reported that, for years, housing growth has not kept up with job growth in Kenosha County. Between 2010 and 2023, the county experienced upwards of a 30% increase in jobs, while housing units only increased around 5% in the same timeframe, according to multiple reports, making its housing shortage among the most

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It's been widely reported that, for years, housing growth has not kept up with job growth in Kenosha County. Between 2010 and 2023, the county experienced upwards of a 30% increase in jobs, while housing units only increased around 5% in the same timeframe, according to multiple reports, making its housing shortage among the most acute in the state. That narrative could be changing, however, as the county is starting to see an uptick in housing proposals, approvals and groundbreakings that could deliver thousands of units to the area. In downtown Kenosha, Milwaukee-based Cobalt Partners and Fond du Lac-based C.D. Smith have begun construction on the first of several buildings that could deliver more than 1,000 housing units. In Pleasant Prairie, Brookfield-based ZL Development is anticipating an early 2025 groundbreaking for the first of 705 owner-occupied housing units. There’s also a 719-unit development with apartments, duplexes and single-family homes from Milwaukee-based Three Leaf Partners and Kenosha-based Land Quest that was proposed and gained approval from the Village of Somers earlier this year, and a 702-unit apartment proposal from Chicago-based Bond Cos. that received initial approval from the Village of Pleasant Prairie recently. That’s not to mention smaller projects like a 97-unit proposal in Somers, a 215-unit apartment proposal on the former Dairyland Greyhound Park site in Kenosha and several other small subdivisions throughout the county that are at various stages of the development pipeline. While many of these projects are multi-phased and still need to secure financing and approvals, several area stakeholders agree that things are finally moving in the right direction. “We’re seeing more interest from multifamily developers, and we’re seeing more interest from single family developers,” said Tim Casey, Kenosha’s director of city development. “We’re meeting with folks on a regular basis.” “Over the last six to nine months, I have noticed that there are a lot more proposals coming forward, and that the ones that had been under consideration are moving forward in the process,” said Nicole Ryf, executive director of the Kenosha Area Business Alliance. Strong and diverse housing demand Kenosha County has seen significant commercial growth in recent years, which is expected to continue. In both 2021 and 2022, Kenosha County had the highest rate of net new construction in the state, according to the county’s 2023 budget, and the City of Kenosha has another 5,000 acres available for development along I-94, of which about half is slated for industrial development. Recently, pharmaceutical giant Eli Lilly announced it would begin expanding its presence in the county and a new 230-acre data center campus has been proposed in Kenosha. As companies move into the region and look to hire employees, housing becomes a crucial piece of the puzzle. Despite the economic growth, Kenosha County’s population has only increased by about half a percentage point since 2010 as about 30% of the people who work in Kenosha County live outside of the county, according to data from KABA. “If we build more housing in the city and county, we’re going to capture not just the job, but the person who works that job is going to have an opportunity to live here, and that’s a big part of the equation for us,” Casey said. “When we’ve got them as a resident of whichever community, they’ll hopefully be engaged in the community in some way, paying taxes here and spending some of their disposable income.” Since 2010, commercial real estate analytics company CoStar has tracked about 2,900 units of multifamily construction in Kenosha County, which is about as much as is currently proposed, indicating an increase in development activity, according to Gard Pecor, a senior market analyst with CoStar. Pecor noted that job growth is a big part of the housing equation, but so is household size, which is decreasing nationally. In Kenosha County, while the population only grew by a couple thousand between 2010 and 2023, the county added 6,300 households. “So just by that metric alone, not enough housing was built in Kenosha County during that 13-year span, not to mention the job growth piece,” Pecor said. As with much of the country, single-family home production in Kenosha County dropped dramatically in the mid-2000s during the housing-fueled Great Recession, and it still hasn’t fully come back. There were 865 single-family housing permits pulled in the county in 2005 and the annual number of permits pulled – a measure of new single-family home starts – dropped to a low of 110 in 2011, according to data from the Wisconsin Builders Association. Last year, there were 154 permits pulled in the county. The lack of new home construction has contributed to a housing shortage in the area, which has driven up prices. The median home price in Kenosha County has risen from $129,900 in 2010 to $284,000 this year, according to the Wisconsin Realtors Association. “The people that work here either can’t afford to live here or they can’t find what they want, and those are two very different groups of people,” Ryf said. “Affordability is a big issue, but there’s also young professionals who are finding they can find a nice apartment in downtown Milwaukee for the same price as Kenosha, and – at that age – it’s hard for us to compete without nicer residences. Similarly, executives have said they can’t find what they’re looking for in Kenosha and are opting to move elsewhere, so our housing needs are really diverse.” KABA launches new housing task force To help the county cope with its housing issues, KABA has launched a new housing task force focused on finding solutions to the problem. “It was striking to me the fact that when I asked what the biggest issue they’re dealing with, employers, higher education partners, the Kenosha Unified School District, elected officials, everyone said that housing was the number one challenge,” Ryf said. The task force held its first meeting last month and the group determined three areas in which to take action, including financial tools – the hope is to develop one or more financial tools to help alleviate the housing shortage; planning, zoning and design, with the goal of removing barriers to make it easier for builders to get their plans approved; and marketing and outreach, in which KABA hopes to better educate residents and elected officials on the need for housing in the area, as well as market the area to developers who might be interested in building there. “We’ve got the job growth, there’s no question about it, now we need more of the residential growth, because a house is where a job goes to sleep at night,” Casey said. “I think we’re starting to see that happen, but it’s something we have to stay engaged in.”

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