Sussex cannery site to be developed

Village of Sussex - A Milwaukee area developer has agreed to purchase and redevelop the 10 acre Mommoth Springs Canning Company site at the intersection of Main Street and Waukesha Avenue, according to village officials.

Development of the vacant site has been considered a key element in the village's plan to redevelop the east end of Main Street as well as portions of Waukesha Avenue.

Village Administrator Jeremy Smith said the village planning staff is expected to meet in February or March with Arthur Sawall who, according to Smith, is the processing of purchasing the land from an M & I Bank owned holding company. Smith said he anticipates Sawall will build a multi use retail, commecrial and residential complex on the site valued someone where between $25 and $50 million.

"The cannery news is huge for us," said Village President Tony Lapcinski. "It is the home run we needed to hit in order to make Tax Increment Financing District #6 economically make sense."

Lapcinski explained that the cannery development was necessary to generate enough revenues to enable the city to provide private enterprise incentives to redevelop parts of the east end of Main Street.

Another critical element in the village's redevelopment plans is the remodeling, or possible new construction, of the Piggly Wiggly Grocery store which located near the west end of Main Street across from the Village Hall and Library campus.

Village officials have indicated they plan to encourage corporate officials of the national grocery store company to help local owners with their plans to make improvements in the store, including possibly purchasing land adjacent to the existing site to build a new store.