GREEN BAY, WI (WTAQ-WLUK) — Work continues on a much-anticipated long-term project for the Port of Green Bay.
The venture would develop the site of the former Pulliam Power Plant at the mouth of the Fox River.
“We’re creating a blank slate, in hoping to a attract a business there that will make full use of it,” said Mark Walter, Port of Green Bay Business Development Manager.
When it comes to Great Lakes shipping, Walter calls it an opportunity of a lifetime.
“It is exciting, yeah. This is brand new. It’s 100 years in-the-making, almost in terms something new for the port,” he said.
Walter says Brown County bought the land adjacent to the old Public Service Pulliam Plant property last year.
“There’s no bridges to go through, it’s got rail access, and interstate highway access, and ship access all in one spot. That’s pretty unique,” he said.
County leaders hired the engineering firm GEI Consultants to develop a plan, design, and build a state-of-the-art terminal at the mouth of the Fox River in Green Bay. The project manager revealed some early renderings, at Tuesday’s Port Symposium in Ashwaubenon.
“We’re getting close about a 30 percent design, so it’s fairly conceptual yet, but we’ve roughed out some designs of maybe where the access road’s coming in, some potential rail layout, where the wall is going to go,” said Mark Vannieuwenhoven, GEI Consultants Project Manager.
Vannieuwenhoven says the dock wall could accommodate a ship 650-feet long, and that’s not all.
“It’ll also free up some real estate maybe potentially downtown,” he said.
Port leaders are talking about C. Reiss Coal Company which operates a coal dock just upstream. City and County leaders have been working for years to find another location for the coal piles, and redevelop the area.
“We’re still in conversations with them. I mean, I think that would be the ultimate goal for much of the community would be to see some shifting of the coal operations upriver at Mason Street area to the Mouth of the Fox River,” said Walter.
Port leaders say it could take about $30 million to develop the site.
Construction could begin next year.
Brown County money, along with a combination of State, and Federal Grants, is helping to cover the cost.
