GREEN BAY, WI (WTAQ-WLUK) – After sitting vacant for the past 20 years, new life could be coming to a historic building in downtown Green Bay, and the city is essentially ready to give it away to make it happen.
As the Schauer and Schumacher buildings have sat empty on the prominent downtown Green Bay corner of Walnut and Adams streets, they’ve had admirers just a block away for the past few years.
“Once they got split up, it became something that seemed doable for us,” said Joe Zeitler, owner of La Baye Insurance Company.
Zeitler and his partner on the project, Justin Seidl, went to elementary school together in Luxemburg and now both run businesses out of the Bellin Building at the corner of Walnut and Washington streets. They are looking to buy and restore the former funeral parlor on Adams Street, which until recently, had been marketed together with the old furniture store building on Walnut Street.
“Justin and I are both very passionate about downtown Green Bay, and we’re really excited to hopefully get our fingerprints on downtown Green Bay and a building that’s been there for a long time,” said Zeitler, who already lives downtown.
The plan is to move Zeitler’s health insurance company and Seidl’s cryptocurrency exchange business, Sequoira, into the first floor. The two would then move their families to live out of the second and third levels.
Before all that can happen, a lot of work needs to be done. It is something developers have seemed unwilling to do, even with the city openly advertising it would essentially give the buildings away.
“We’ll have maintained and saved a historic building, the exterior, and got it back on the tax roll that’s a good win for us,” said Neil Stechschulte, Green Bay’s economic development director.
The city didn’t have an exact amount readily available, but it’s poured thousands of dollars into these buildings over the years. Just a few years ago, a new roof was put on the Adams St. building.
“So to actually get somebody in there taking care of the space and actively maintaining it, that will be a good cost savings to the city as well,” said Stechschulte.
The hope is once someone sees the Adams Street building back in use, a plan for the Walnut Street one will soon follow.
The partners have a six-month planning option to figure out financing, which was secured at a Redevelopment Authority meeting on Thursday.
While they’d only be giving the city two dollars for the building, they expect it will cost $2.99 million to restore it. The project is eligible for historic tax credits.
Jennifer Lehrke of Legacy Architecture and Jamie Blom of Immel Construction are also part of the project. They partnered to help redevelop Pete’s Garage, the downtown YMCA addition, and the former The Heel shoe store building, which is next to the Schauer and Schumacher buildings.
