Manitowoc Mayor Justin Nickels
The ever-growing list of companies that are expanding in Manitowoc, or are adding locations here is a bit of a double-edged sword.
While having these businesses is great for the local economy, there simply isn’t enough housing to accommodate the number of jobs that are being added. This is a problem Manitowoc Mayor Justin Nickels is keenly aware of.
We asked the Mayor if he was confident the issue would be resolved in time for the opening of places such as Ammo Inc, and the recently announced FedEx Distribution plant.
“The answer is probably not, but that’s every single community,” he said. “I was just driving to Madison, and there’s got to be thousands of new apartment units being built in Madison alone. The housing issue is not unique to Manitowoc, but at least we are starting to see developers step up and add a lot of these units.”
As the Mayor aluded to, there are a couple of major housing development projects that have been recently announced.
TLG Homes has a couple of projects on the horizon, and Mike Howe Builders are working on putting up 34 single-family homes off of Reed Avenue near the zoo.
Another project on the docket will be taking place at the old Santa’s Best building.
Nickles said they are “looking at senior housing of 50 plus units there. A lot of seniors don’t want the yard work and taking care of a house…but they want still to have their independence and their own thing, which these types of units would be very nice for that.”
That property is located in the 1100 block of South 16th Street. Mayor Nickels said they are always looking for more ideas on how to address the issue, including a change to the sub-division laws in the city.
