CITY MALL: Parkland Plaza Misunderstanding Clouds Development Plans

Parkland Plaza, the mall that houses the Muskego Post Office, could use a face-lift.  And though owners planned one that could make very visible improvements of $200,000 or more, misunderstandings about available city funds stalled the project at the Community Development Authority (CDA) meeting on July 21. 

Building consultant Eric Neuman of MSI General, hired by the retail structure’s owners to develop concepts to remodel the structure, said he was shocked when he found out the city had a ceiling of $50,000 on CDA funds for the project.

Neuman believed $375,000 in City funds was available between Pick n’Save and Parkland Plaza for building improvements, and that half of that amount would be dedicated to Parkland Plaza.

“Had I been told it was a 50:50 match we probably would have said 'no thanks' up front,”  said Neuman, whose client was willing to invest only $50,000 and no more to fund the $200,000 project.

Although there was no explanation of how the misunderstanding occurred, information prepared by City Planner Jeff Muenkel  for the June 23 CDA meeting did explore a more sizeable investment by the City in the interests of making “the downtown a better place to see, work, and play.”

“Staff sees that it might be advantageous to allow anywhere from $100,000-$135,000 in incentive monies to make the project happen,” the CDA Supplement for the meeting of June 23, 2011, said. However, the supplement included cautions that those amounts might be too much for the City to invest at this time.

The document also compared the potential investment to incentives the Firestone development received when it acquired land for its new building for $100,000, “a large incentive in itself.” 

A frustrated Neuman said “businesses on Janesville are waiting for the economy to improve before they make improvements…that’s how the real world works. You won’t see a lot of interest for bigger projects with a 50:50 split.” 

Neuman  told the Committee, “You might have to fix your approach or be more generous” going forward with business development work.

“I would rather see businesses come back in a couple years with a project,” Committee Chairman Rob Glazier said, referring to a time when the economy might improve and businesses may have more resources.  “Then it would make more sense.”