Village Starting Over With 320-Acre MXD Use

CALEDONIA, WI-Legacy Development Co., which had planned the 320-acre, mixed-use Twelve Oaks development here, at a reported cost of almost $400 million, has dropped the project. A local group of investors bought the property from the Franksville-based firm for a reported $6.9 million, and has started working with the community to design a new plan.

The property is at Highway K and Highway V, about a mile from Interstate 94. Legacy’s plan was for about 700 single-family and multifamily homes, as well as 250,000 sf of non-residential space, likely office and retail (though the original 2006 plan had twice the commercial development sited). Legacy officials could not be reached for comment.

The new plan is a mystery, Caledonia officials tell GlobeSt.com. The new investors met with the village to figure out ways of keeping the development going, and allowing the TIF set for the project to continue.

Chris Schanz, community development specialist for the village, says more commercial may be needed after all. “It’s still planned to be mixed-use, but perhaps more commercial,” he says. “The prior plan called for more residential, but with the market the way it is right now, we’re leaning more toward commercial, especially with the location along I-94. That seems to make more sense.”

Schanz says the investors, who have not yet been named, have said they want to move the project forward. “There is some more work to do, the property owner says they want to make sure it is developed right,” he says.

Village administrator Tom Lebak tells GlobeSt.com that the TIF needs to be started soon for the project, which he hopes will begin later this year. “The water and sewer for the space has to get done. Our land use plan for that area calls for mixed-use commercial and residential development there,” he says.