Housing development agreement approved by city council

TOMAHAWK – A new housing development is slated to be built near Tomahawk’s eastern city limits within the next several years.

During its meeting at City Hall on Tuesday, June 2, the City of Tomahawk Common Council unanimously approved a Land Transfer and Development Agreement with S.C. Swiderski LLC, a Mosinee-based real estate management and property development company with rental properties in numerous area communities, including Eagle River, Medford, Merrill and Wausau.

Under the agreement, the city’s Community Development Authority (CDA) will transfer a parcel of land located off of Comfort Drive near U.S. Hwy. 51 to S.C. Swiderski for $1.00. The firm will then begin construction on the planned 72-unit, multi-family residential complex by September.

The project must reach “substantial completion” – meaning “the point in the construction project when the work is far enough along that the owner can use the buildings for its intended purpose, though some minor, non-essential items” may still need to be completed – by Sept. 2028, according to the agreement.

The development is anticipated to have a minimum assessed value of $9.5 million.

If S.C. Swiderski remains in full compliance with the terms of the agreement, the company will be eligible for a $400,000.00 tax increment district grant from the city, paid in $40,000.00 annual installments, after the city has recouped its land acquisition costs via tax revenue generated by the development.

The agreement said the city and the CDA have determined that the construction of the housing development is “in the best interests of the city and its residents” and will “serve public purposes in accordance with state and local law, as the project will improve underutilized land, provide jobs, expand the city’s tax base and increase property tax revenues.”