 Just a bit as a bit of introduction. I'm Chad Palishek, the director of planning and development. I've agreed to MC the event tonight So we want to thank our partners particularly the Oakbrook Corporation for this eventous Momentous day for us here. We've worked on this project. So we started back in October of 2014 When we originally met with the developer, but it started a long time before that when in January of 2014 the Boston store announced that they were closing this facility and And the public kind of came out and they were all up in arms over what's going to happen And we had a plan thanks to our partners at the Sheboygan Square Business Improvement District in the city To really lay out a plan for the master plan for the downtown and how to utilize this space And it was our consultant Veerbecker who laid out this space as being a Multiple-use apartment development with a green space and connecting our three key Venues in the downtown the art center the meet public library and the wild center So we kind of morphed out of that city staff Took a stab at a layout as to how we would see this space being kind of laid out and then we had a meeting with Michael and Somebody else I don't remember Sarah from Oprah Corporation in the SCEDC's office and laid out our concept in our plans as to how we see this Really kind of laying out and how we would like to see this space being engaged with it key Emphasis on connecting the John Michael Kohler Art Center, which is a great resource to downtown and to the a street venue so here we are today after almost two years of Working through this for a groundbreaking Celebration to kick this off and get going on phase one of this which is the development of 81 market rate Apartments right here in the site where we're standing today With before we move into some presentations. I'd like to Just mention Jim Amodio is a city administrator who retired at the end of April was instrumental in you know And driving this through the council and making the council come on board with this Development as well as Don Hammond who is the former president of the council sleep And though they're not here I would like to just give them a round of applause just for thanking them for helping us through this process So with that I would like to ask we've got a few Speakers that are going to speak on different aspects of this project So we'll start out with Michael Maury from the Oprah Corporation who is the vice president and he'll talk about the Project and what's going to happen here on this site coming starting actually next week so Michael Good evening everyone. Thanks for being here. My name is Michael Maury with Oak Brook Well, I thank you all for being here to celebrate this important occasion for us as Jed mentioned This journey kind of started about 18 months ago with the conversation between he and myself and Sarah Spicer at the EDC and You know they were explaining to me And challenged at the city faced in terms of developing housing that would meet the needs of the city's rapidly expanding workforce They assured me this was an important initiative for this community And that they were prepared to work with the right developer to achieve these objectives So when the opportunity presented itself to devise a solution for the former Boston store building We were very excited about the possibilities And we knew immediately we wanted to be involved The images you see here are the result of a lot of hard work Careful planning and thoughtful design that have taken place over the last year and a half Upon its completion next summer the on-core apartments will be the premier luxury rental community in Sheboygan The building will contain 81 apartments Including studio one and two bedroom units in a variety of floor plans as well as 4,000 square feet of retail space Residents will enjoy modern conveniences and amenities including heated underground parking On-site car and pet wash state-of-the-art fitness center offering personal training and yoga classes And a one and a half story community room and outdoor patio Where residents will be able to visit and meet with friends to enjoy a barbecue or a live concert The on-course location in the heart of downtown will offer residents the ultimate in urban living And if anybody is interested in leasing information after the program please come see myself or Brian Martin When we'd love to talk to you more about the project I think it goes without saying that a project like this doesn't materialize without the collective efforts of a number of individuals And I'd like to take a moment just to recognize some of the folks that have made today possible First and foremost, to Mark Hopkins and Mark Kerensky and everybody with HKM Architects Thank you for your vision mark, your creativity and your steadfast commitment to client service We really truly value our relationship with you and your partners Thank you to Mark Dezinski with North Central Construction Your dedication and commitment is truly valued and appreciated Mark To Mayor Van der Steen who isn't with us but I know really wanted to be here Daryl Hofflin and the City Council All the staff members of the city that worked collaboratively with us throughout this entire process We really appreciate all of your support Dane Czekolinski and his staff at the Shpoigen County EDC Our first introduction to the business community was at your annual event Dane We were just blown away. We were so impressed with what we heard and what we saw at that event We walked away with just a great deal of confidence that this was a place we wanted to do business and wanted to invest So thank you very much for all your passion, everything you do and for helping us make connections within the community And finally, we wouldn't be celebrating this exciting milestone If it wasn't for the leadership of Chad Pellishek Chad, you've been a driving force for this project since the very beginning We appreciate your guidance, your focus and your get-it-done mentality Thank you very much Before I introduce the next speaker, I'd just like to mention that Dave Gass is the president of the Shpoigen Square Group He's going to be speaking a little bit but I want to thank him and Dave Soxie who are two local businessmen That really drove the discussions with the Boston store folks when we were trying to buy this property We decided at that point that it was more beneficial to the city if we had some businessmen step to the plate And try to negotiate the deal to buy the property And him and Dave Soxie were really the instrumental partners in kind of putting the deal together with the Boston store owners Who lived in Santa Barbara, California and had never been here before And thought they were going to develop a big sporting goods or cabalas on this site So we knew how unconnected they were and we knew we needed to get it in local control And the Common Council at the time, I remember standing in closed session at the council saying trust me, this will happen Just trust me, let's move forward and the council agreed to it and here we are today So we really appreciate the work that the business community has done as part of this I would just like to talk a little bit about what's going to happen as we wrap up the construction of this apartment building So on Monday the fencing will go up around this site and we're going to start excavation for the footings and foundation We had originally thought that was going to be an easy process until we found out through soil brains and excavations That the old Pringie store is still underneath where we're standing today Where they basically whatever didn't burn in the fire must have pushed it in the hole and covered it over and left it here So we have everything from painted concrete to metal shelving that we need to deal with So this kind of put a little hiccup in it and those of you that have been involved with this process with us We thought this project was probably going to go on the back burner The Common Council agreed to dedicate another half a million dollars towards the cleanups So we're going to be opening bids on Monday with the hopes of beginning construction and excavation early next week That process will probably take us four to six weeks just on the sheer fact of what needs to be moved around and hauled off site But we think we can get there and we're excited about moving into the footings and foundations shortly thereafter We're also working with HKM Architects the architect for this building on a development for the green space And that was on the invite which is the picture here on the top And the intent is to energize the rest of the green space into this kind of arts and culture plaza if you will With a stage so the mic stage that the mic stage which is the John Michael Kohler Art Center green bin looking stage that was here Moved for this year to go for the concerts across the road that will be coming back next year as part of this Or actually this fall as part of this development to develop this kind of Green arts and culture green space around this apartments and Michael Moray will be the one that you know They'll be to tell you that that's the vision that they had with this development is to have us be leveraging the arts and culture And bringing everybody together here so we're hoping to go out to bids here in June or July on about a half a million dollar Development for this green space with the intent of starting construction hopefully this fall and having it ready for the concert series next year at this time So there'll be a lot happening on this site as we move forward and we look for the participation and patients with the community The last thing I just want to state is if you're here and you participate in the fourth of July parade it will be moving over to the north nine street And the sheer fact that we'll be under construction on in this area so we didn't want people around here So we're moving the fourth of July parade as a really as it relates to that so just to notify the public of that At this point I'd like to turn it over to Daryl Hofflin the city's city administrator As you can imagine though we're really happy that Oprah corporation is here This is really the start of a genesis or a renaissance for downtown and redevelopment up and down 8th avenue as well as south pier It's a very exciting time as Chad mentioned there's a lot of partners that came together to make this happen both from the city staff Common council representatives we have a lot of partners, SEC, redevelopment authority, some key business people But really this is the beginning of some really great things for our community Chad referred to it about use the term energizing this really is about bringing energy to our community I think Dain has mentioned there's over 3,000 jobs in the county that are currently open We want to be the place where people move to reside and we think having quality housing like the corporations going to provide our community Is one example of that so welcome again to Sheboygan You can't wait for that first scoops of dirt to be shoveled so thanks again At this time I would like to introduce Ann Briskey and is the senior manager of public program at the John Michael Kohler Art Center And the reason that I think that's so key that they're at the table with us is this whole creative economy And kind of bracing the arts and culture that we have kind of put on the back burner for a number of years in the community And kind of revived since the adoption of the master plan in 2014 so I would like to welcome Ann Briskey Thank the Lord I'm a little shorter Thank you Amy Horster deputy director for programming was hoping to be here tonight but she's not able to join us But she did write wonderful words and Chad told me to paraphrase I'm not I'm gonna read her words because I think they're really beautiful for tonight The art center's vision is of a world in which communities collaborate and explore the arts to nourish and enrich the lives of all And we can't think of a better example of realizing that community collaboration more than that which has been completed around this very space And we're seeing the very tangible results of years of conversation and what happens when the arts have a voice in planning those conversations And we're thrilled to be a part of the planning and even more thrilled when the final plan called for the creation of an arts culture and food district Leveraging and connecting the many incredible cultural assets of this city the art center the library above and beyond children's museum The wild center the list goes on and on all creating a sense of place Both the city and the art center are committed to creating strong creative communities with accessible family friendly cultural and learning opportunities for everyone The art center has been striving towards this for nearly 50 years Enriching lives driving economic development contributing to the local workforce and funneling revenue back into the community through its many many visitors The business improvement district plan allowed us to find a way that we could fit into the community effort And out of that grew the idea and realization of the summer concert series And for those of you who participated last year Thank you and you saw what happens when community organizations come together around a project to create a really exciting event Hundreds of people came together to free live concerts Participated in activities a drink had a wonderful time and really saw what a vibrant community we have And it's not just a feel-good experience. It has significant economic impact Bringing in more than 14,000 people to downtown generated nearly one million dollars in additional visitor spending In this area that just a year prior was somewhat of a depleted zone in downtown Sheboygan That created a barrier to all of our incredible downtown assets And I'm not just tooting our horn Get it? The Wisconsin Economic Development Corporation recognized the impact and awarded the series as the best downtown development story The chamber recognized the series with their working together award And perhaps most significant for this conversation the energy and excitement generated through the concerts Was a part of the tipping point to secure the project that we are here to celebrate today The John Michael Polar Art Center is your art center and is always here for you all to enjoy all the arts all the time And this summer we're working hard to bring you fun festivities and most importantly free live music We're excited to see the development take shape this summer and year and we have a great vantage point every Thursday night during the concerts We'll be even more excited to induce the incredible lineup for next year when we're on a beautiful new green space where we can enjoy live music Even drink meat all friends and make new ones a place to build and to celebrate our community Thank you Thank you Anne at this time I'd like to turn it over to Dane Ceklinski the director of the Sheboygan County Economic Development Corporation Well thank you I really like the term energize and for many different reasons But it was mentioned that we have 3,000 jobs available right now in Sheboygan County I don't know if anyone here realizes but you are standing in the fastest growing economy along the lakeshore And by most measures either the fastest or second fastest growing MSA in the state of Wisconsin Our entire effort to encourage multifamily development started out with conversations with our local companies And that's what we do every day is to try to answer the need of our local firms and what do they need to continue to grow And what they kept saying is that we love to grow But as we're trying to recruit people in this area we have no place to put them And of course me as a standard millennium like you don't know how to search the internet I got this And what we found was that they were right We did a study and we found that we had 13 open apartments in the entire county That is unheard of And from there everything kept snowballing And I keep telling people I have both myself and I think my team two of them which are here And unfortunately Sarah couldn't make it But we have some of the best jobs in the entire county Our job is to unleash every barrier, every print prick that is keeping this county from growing And with major industry in this area Large companies across the border who are actively expanding Our job is made so much easier And I cannot thank everyone else enough The bid district created the vision The city helped every piece move And it just seems like everything came together at the absolute right time And for that I think those entities because we played in my opinion a small role of just trying to connect the dots You guys really deserve the vast majority of credit My team deserves the credit for pulling it all together And I just want to say if you're excited about this Just wait until you see what we have in the pipeline So thank you I appreciate everyone for being here And to Oakbrook Thank you for your investment in our community We appreciate it So last but not least since we're kind of chomping at the bid And they obviously want to get going across the road We have Dave Gast the president of Sheboygan Square I have to lower this Well Chad emphasized when he asked me to speak the three minutes And for a person who is occupations lawyer That's like putting ice cream and cake in front of little kids and tell them they can't eat But anyway, here I go I'm president of Sheboygan Square And some of you know what that is And some of you may not Sheboygan Square is the business improvement district That consists of two areas Sheboygan Square One is the downtown business district Which is a great deal of A Street And the other is the harbor center Which is riverfront and south pier And I can just tell you that the business district Of which I just described About the time of the Boston store Property vacating Actually before that The owners and the members of that Really decided to say You know what if this area is going to move We have to take charge And actually get our feet on the ground And do things And a lot has been done Of which some of it has been described But let me just tell you that The businesses in the Sheboygan Square Have been really active Putting their time and money Into doing things like You see the flowers The hanging plants on the light poles The flower pots next to the businesses All the colorful signs throughout And tables by the library And other things Really decided to get in there And start doing those things And we formed committees That are going out and looking at Growing the area And it's an invigorated Excited group of retail businesses One of the things that We are working on That's really critical And connected to the Oak Brook Development is our retail recruitment We have retained with the city I might add One of the reasons we've been so successful As well is We've had this great partnership With the city over these last four or five years Not that there wasn't a partnership before But it's really blossomed in that time But we are We've hired with the city A group of people Who are going out and actually Calling on retail businesses To attract them to Sheboygan And we are very optimistic About that And we also are going to have We'll bring retail businesses here So we're taking charge Sheboygan Square is taking charge Of the downtown business district And saying we're going to go out And toot the horn of Sheboygan Because it's a horn worth tooting And we're going to get companies here So we can expand the number of opportunities here And encourage more and more people To come down to Sheboygan For a place to live, shop, eat, and play So with that On behalf of the Sheboygan Square Business Improvement District We look forward to a long and fruitful partnership With you Thank you Thank you So that wraps up the program