ALLOUEZ, Wis. (WFRV) Take a drive down Webster Avenue in Allouez and you’ll see multiple signs of improvement. Local 5 found that despite the pandemic, business owners are building in this heavily traveled corridor.
The sounds of construction echo across Allouez – where in the middle of a pandemic business owner Keegan Pries moves forward on construction of a new day care facility, here along the Webster Avenue corridor.
“Love the area, it’s got a great community and we wanted to make our own subcommunity in it,” said Pries who owns You Are My Sunshine Day Care.
But this day care center is just one of several projects underway, recently completed or in the works, built by developers like Garritt Bader, who says the village is eager to improve Webster Avenue.
“The village has been very out there about wanting to encourage redevelopment and investment in the area. It’s a great thing and a testament to staff,” said Bader, who owns GB Real Estate Investment.
Be it a day care center, a credit union, a brewery or a reuse of a historic property, all of these projects are in line with the village’s comprehensive plan.
“We’re not trying to recreate or create a mega-massive business district. We’re trying to provide opportunities for our residents,” said Village Administrator Brad Lange.
Lange says that plan calls for the kind of development that allows people to live, work, shop and play here. Enter Zambaldi Brewery in January.
“The excitement of Zambaldi has been a real blessing,” said Lange.
Lange says that project created momentum and now the day care center and Wisconsin Medical Credit Union are under construction. Projects that Bader says will lead to even more development in the corridor.
“This is putting a lot of new life into it, which I know is probably the first initial phase of what they want to see even more of down the road,” Bader said.
“Love seeing it develop, it’s a really good quality community and to be able to add more to it, we’re always excited about that,” Pries said.
“I think the future looks bright for the village of Allouez,” Lange said.
Another project in the corridor – the Allouez Community Center, expected to be redeveloped into the new home for Ben Bartolazzi Real Estate.
