Ashwaubenon multi-venue restaurant project paused indefinitely after village denies funding

ASHWAUBENON − A new Anduzzi's Restaurant project will not move forward after the village of Ashwaubenon declined Tax Incremental Financing (TIF) funding.

A site plan application for the project at 789 Armed Forces Drive was submitted on March 20, by GRAEF, an architecture and engineering firm. The application was approved with conditions on April 9 by the Village of Ashwaubenon's plan review committee but denied with a 4-2 vote by the plan commission board. It was finally approved in Tuesday's board meeting with a 4-3 vote, with three votes against due to parking concerns.

Aaron Schuette, community development director for the village of Ashwaubenon, said the developer requested funding through the village's TIF program, which offers funding for projects in development.

"That discussion was held in closed session," he said. "Unfortunately, I can't disclose that discussion at this time."

Patrick Leigl, the village's attorney said the motion to approve the TIF funding was denied by the village, but it's not contingent for the project to move forward from the village's perspective.

"Despite TIF assistance not being available from the village," he said. "The developer may still chose to move forward with the project."

Mac Cisar, Anduzzi's chief operating officer, said initially the village made a standing offer of $1.25 million for TIF funding.

"We are pretty disappointed in that outcome (to deny funding)," Cisar said. "(Also) knowing that there were two things that would be able to get it done."

Cisar said the project had lending secured under two scenarios: the first with a TIF pay-go structure for $2.2 million over 14 years. The second, a TIF up-front structure, with a single installment in year one for $1.6 million.

"The board knew going into Tuesday night that those two were the different options to be able to move forward with the project," he said.

After the closed session over a month ago, Cisar said village staff members asked them to bring back enhanced TIF requests and develop a cash-flow analysis. The latter was done in partnership with Wipfli LLP to verify the viability of the project.

Cisar said the analysis showed the village would collect an annual tax bill of $194,600 with the new venue, which translates to over $1.6 million in 20 years and over $3.6 million in 30 years. However, with vacant land, the annual tax bill drops to $28,935. Also, the analysis showed that this project would've added 50 or more jobs and transformed a "vacant lot into a premier facility."

"Unfortunately Ashwaubenon decided they didn't have the appetite for it," Cisar said.

According to the site plan, the project would have included a pizzeria on the first floor, barbecue-style restaurant on the second floor and event venue on the third floor. It also had a patio and stage plus additional outdoor seating along the western and southern sides of the building. The property for this project is connected in the far southeastern corner, through the parking lot, to Anduzzi's at 1992 Holmgren Way.

The property on Armed Forces Drive was purchased by 789 Armed Forces Drive LLC in Dec. of 2021 for $4,018,000.

"Maybe one day there will be an opportunity to bring the facility to life," Cisar said.

Ariel Perez is a business reporter for the Green Bay Press-Gazette. You can reach him at APerez1@gannett.com or view his Twitter profile at @Ariel_Perez85.

This article originally appeared on Green Bay Press-Gazette: Ashwaubenon multi-venue restaurant project paused indefinitely after village denies funding