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Pointe Blue funding in place, construction set to begin
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BY MICHAEL BURKE
Journal Times
RACINE - Financing for Pointe Blue, which will be this city's largest development project ever, is now in place. Tuesday's announcement by the developer means the project will soon begin construction.
Over the weekend, the financing package for both site acquisition and construction fell into place, the developer, Scott Fergus of KeyBridge Development Group, said Tuesday.
"They have agreed to finance the project," Fergus said of the national capital group which wants to remain unnamed until the closing. Fergus said that should happen on or before April 11.
It will have at least
434 residences, a marina, restaurants, stores, offices and 90 apartments.
Fergus said his company has 104 reservations now for Pointe Blue housing units. That represents 24 percent of the units and about 30 percent of the sales volume.
"We all feel incredibly good about the response," he said, "and that was a driving factor for our capital group" to commit the money.
The financing announcement erases the perception of uncertainty that some observers had when the complex deal took longer than expected to be knitted together.
Fergus,
president of Milwaukee-based KeyBridge,
said he heard the doubts, but never shared them.
"In reality, no, I never doubted it was going to happen," said the former Racinian and state legislator.
"With the location of the site and early interest and what I perceive to be the incredible future of Racine, I never doubted there would be a good capital group that would be able to provide the financing."
Mayor Gary Becker said he heard the doubts also, but remained confident during the process.
"The thing about it was: Although there were potholes, it always kept moving forward," Becker said.
"I can't wait for it to start."
Construction start
The mayor won't have to wait long. Fergus said he expects construction to start about April 16. Despite delays, he said the project is still on schedule.
The financing will pay for all needed land, infrastructure and construction costs. Unlike conventional lending arrangements, this one does not grant the money one phase at a time, Fergus said; it funds the whole project at once.
"We should benefit a lot," he said. "We should be able to move at a faster pace than the traditional one step at a time."
At one point, he said, three aspects of construction could be happening simultaneously: building of infrastructure such as streets, sewer and water mains; construction of the high-rise condo tower at the northeast corner; and construction of low-rise living units along the lake.
This year, Fergus said, people will see several things happening on the site:
n Crushing of asphalt surface.
n Preparation of a couple of areas built to contain run-off during construction.
n Demolition of most of the Pugh Marina structures, although one will be kept for storing construction equipment during the project.
n Installation of storm sewer, sanitary sewer and water mains.
n The start of construction, late this year, of the high-rise tower and low-rise condos along the lake front.
Remediation of underground contaminants will happen along with installation of infrastructure. The Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources has approved a remediation plan which essentially calls for capping the site to keep contaminants or vapors from moving upward.
The cap will consist of a fabric or membrane, then six inches of sand, then a 2-foot clay cap and 6 inches of topsoil. Fergus said all landscaping will grow only above the clay liner - not through it.
But brownfield landscaping specialists will know how to make the landscaping look "vibrant," he said. In the future, "People walking by will never know this was a brownfield that we cleaned up."
The first units should be ready for occupancy by late summer or early fall of next year, Fergus said.
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