Green Bay RDA approves $1 sale and funding commitments for mixed-use Badger Sheet Metal redevelopment

The Green Bay Redevelopment Authority voted to approve an offer to sell the former Badger Sheet Metal site to General Capital Group for $1 and authorized funding commitment letters to support a mixed‑use redevelopment that will include a new fire station and approximately 93 affordable apartment units.

City staff told the authority the developer needs property control and certain funding commitments to qualify a tax‑credit application. “The developer is requesting a property be sold for $1,” said Matt, a city staff member. He said the developer plans to apply this month for 4% noncompetitive federal low‑income housing tax credits and needs the site control to be eligible to submit the application.

The project presented to the RDA is a phased redevelopment of the downtown parcel near South Broadway and South Maple that would combine a ground‑floor commercial space, a fire station with administrative offices and a multifamily affordable housing building. Staff described a Phase 1 apartment construction budget of about $25,200,000 and said the portion of the fire station intended to count as a community‑serving facility in the tax‑credit scoring has a budget of about $5,400,000. The city’s capital improvement program, adopted last fall by the City Council, had penciled in a $15,000,000 estimate for a standalone fire station, but staff told the RDA that final fire‑station costs remain under review.

As presented, the residential component would total about 93 units with the breakdown given in staff materials: 8 units at 30% of area median income (AMI), 73 units at 60% AMI and 12 units described in the transcript as “12 units at 2% of AMI.” Staff acknowledged that additional details remain to be finalized with the developer and that the quoted line in the staff overview may be a transcription or typographical error to be clarified in the forthcoming development agreement.

On financing, staff said Brown County has allocated $3,500,000 in federal ARPA funds to the city to support this project and presented a proposed $5,100,000 forgivable, 0% loan from the city to fund the portion of the fire station that will be used to qualify for tax‑credit points as a community‑serving facility. Staff said those funding commitment letters are needed now because the tax‑credit application scoring requires documented commitments for the community‑serving facility component at the time of application.

Board members and staff described the proposal as a way to address multiple priorities — public safety, affordable housing and downtown activation — while also restoring the parcel to the tax rolls. Multiple speakers praised the concept of combining uses on a single parcel as a way to preserve downtown density and to leverage tax credits and local funding to lower development costs.

The authority approved two formal items: (1) consideration and acceptance of the purchase offer to sell the former Badger Sheet Metal site to General Capital Group for $1, contingent on a later approval of a final development agreement; and (2) issuance of funding commitment letters needed for the developer’s tax‑credit application, including acknowledgement of the $3,500,000 in ARPA funds awarded by Brown County and the proposed $5,100,000 forgivable loan from the city. Both items were approved by motion; the record shows motions carried, and staff said final documents will return to the RDA for legal and development‑agreement review.

Next steps, as stated in the meeting, are that the developer will submit the tax‑credit application (requiring property control and funding commitments), and staff will return to the RDA in the coming weeks with the negotiated development agreement and final financing details for formal approval.