Athens approves housing agreement
S.C. Swiderski pledges to build 48 apartments
The Athens Village Board on Monday unanimously voted in favor of a developer’s agreement between the village and S.C. Swiderski for its construction next year of at least 48 apartment units.
S.C. Swiderski is planning to buy 7.3 acres of land from Athenian Living in September of this year to begin construction in 2023. The property is located on Caroline Street across from Athenian Living.
The company, which is headquarted in Mosinee, originally said the construction project would include four single-family homes and four duplexes on each side of a new street created to the west of Caroline Street. Apartments would be built south of the duplexes with one, two and three bedrooms for people to rent. Korti Wolf, business design manager at S.C. Swiderski, said Tuesday the scope of the construction project has changed since Athenian Living sold a piece of the land to a private individual.
“Our project has shifted a bit north now so we will no longer have duplexes and single-family homes, which means the village no longer needs to have an access road off Caroline Street,” Wolf said. “We are committed to building a minimum of 48 apartment units, but we could have up to 60 after we start working with an engineer on the project. There will be two apartment buildings with detached garages and four apartment buildings with attached garages, and some of them will be twocar garages.”
Lisa Czech, Athens village clerk, said terms of the developer’s agreement between the village of Athens and S.C. Swiderski consist of the company getting 25 percent of the existing mixed use Tax Increment District (TID) No. 2 money it creates each year for a total of $100,000. She said S.C. Swiderski will only receive the TID money if it proceeds with the project; the village won’t lose any money if the project doesn’t happen as planned.
“The dollar amount is the price S.C. Swiderski is paying for the land, so essentially the company is asking to get reimbursed for the cost of the land,” Czech said.
In other news:
n The village board voted to direct clerk Czech to seek proposals for a $625,000, eight-year loan where the village’s TID No. 2 will repay the village and its water and sewer departments for past expenditures.
TID No. 2 owes the village of Athens $302,364, the village water department $42,407 and the village sewer department $246,875.
If approved, the TID No. 2 loan will pay for 74 percent of a planned Plisch Street construction project slated for this summer.
n Village board members unanimously voted to hire Viking Painting of La Vista, Neb., with the lowest bid of $149,800 to repaint the interior and exterior of the village’s 150,000-gallon water tower this summer. The water tower will keep its current design.
n The village board unanimously voted to hire MSA Professionals for $18,100 to have it complete a phosphorous compliance report for the village’s sewer plant that is due in April.
