State grant will help turn Mayville’s Red Brick School into downtown housing | Daily Citizen

WEDC Secretary and CEO Missy Hughes, along with WEDC Deputy Secretary and COO Sam Rikkers, declared on an afternoon visit to Mayville that the town has been awarded a $250,000 Community Advancement Financial commitment grant.

Mayville’s previous Red Brick Faculty, which dates to 1924, is getting designed into residences and a commercial place by Andres Lezama and his spouse, Lindsey. The developing anchors the downtown company district on the north stop.

“Mayville has been bringing new lifetime to its historic downtown by supporting modest organization owners, assisting renovation initiatives that generate a photo-best smaller-town scene and presenting occasions that give men and women a motive to go to,” reported Hughes in a press release. “WEDC is happy to have assisted many of these endeavours and we’re pleased to husband or wife with the city as they acquire the next move in their downtown revitalization — building housing for people to stay downtown.”

Lezama is seeking to protect as considerably of the historic university making as attainable whilst producing essential modern day updates. He explained the undertaking would be price tag-prohibitive without having the $250,000 grant.

Mayville acquired its designation as a Most important Street Local community in 2018. The metropolis of approximately 5,000 citizens is a single of more than 30 communities in the WEDC Wisconsin Primary Road program to get operational support such as entry to academic workshops, webinars and conferences networking chances and an on the internet useful resource guidebook — all intended to facilitate revitalization of downtowns and city industrial districts.

WEDC executives toured quite a few enterprises Monday in addition to the Pink Brick University that WEDC has supported just lately, like Primary Road Makeover winner Fred’s Beds, the nonprofit Open up Door Coffeehouse and Sweet Pea’s Pies.

The house owners of Fred’s Beds, Jeff and Janine Andes, labored with a staff from WEDC and the style organization Retailworks to make a new search for the home furniture and house décor retail outlet. WEDC furnished up to $10,000 to have out the ideas very last month.

Kyle and Rachel Smith relocated their Minnesota pie small business to Mayville in the summer time 2021 right after buying a corner Most important Avenue building. Sweet Pea’s Pies opened in the historic New music Block making with the help of a $31,000 Community Progress Investment decision grant from WEDC.

The WEDC also assisted Amber Schraufnagel, president and founder of Open Doorway Coffeehouse, with a $137,500 Group Improvement Expenditure grant to shift into a new, more obtainable Primary Road place late past spring. The bigger place will allow the nonprofit to give much more mental wellness, parenting and youth programming.