Folkman Plaza officially opens in Village of Hobart

Rich Palzewic

Staff

May 19, 2025

HOBART – After almost a year of construction, Folkman Plaza is officially open in the consistently growing Village of Hobart.

The plaza, located at 4999 Founders Terrace in the Centennial Centre Business Park, had a ribbon-cutting ceremony earlier this month marking the official opening of the building.

The Wash Shack – a state-of-the-art car wash tunnel – is the first of four businesses to occupy the plaza and open to the public.

Justin Folkman – co-owner of the plaza along with his father, Alan – said Wisco Sips and VIP Nails will also be taking up residence soon.

“It’s fantastic it’s finally here and open,” he said. “It’s been a year in the making – there is a lot you have to go through to make something like this happen. We went from basically a farm field to a 10,000-plus square-foot building. We had the right partners in place.”

Justin said within three or four months, the other suites in the plaza should be completed and ready for use.

“The unique thing about this car wash is it’s attached to about 5,000 square feet of retail space – other places are not generating traffic like we are,” he said. “In addition to Wisco Sips and VIP nails, we’re also possibly looking at a laundromat – all service-related businesses that will help draw customers.”

Justin said Wisco Sips – a coffee shop that has another location at 3700 Elm View Road on Green Bay’s far east side – will also have a drive-thru and outdoor seating.

“We also have an area by the plaza to set up a food truck,” he said. “We’re going to call it ‘The Yard.’ There will be a different food truck here every night of the week.”

Again, Justin said it’s all about creating traffic.

“If you get cars to come here for a car wash, they can also eat, get coffee, etc.,” he said.

Hobart-based Bayland Buildings was the design/build general contractor for the new building – a project Justin said officially broke ground in late June 2024 and was scheduled to be completed late last year.

“As always, conditions were everything,” Brian Peters, a project executive with Bayland, said. “We couldn’t get into the production site early enough, so we had to extend that construction into this year. The Village of Hobart was great to work with, as were Justin and Alan. When I look at what the building is offering, it’s very exciting. Bayland feels very blessed to be a part of the equation.”

Hobart Administrator Aaron Kramer said the village listened to what constituents wanted.

“We can’t cross everything off the ‘want list,’ but we are crossing off a big want of the community,” he said. “This project will also be special to me – from a personal and professional standpoint – because I only live a few blocks away.”

Kramer said last summer, when he would go for his daily walk, he’d always come to the Folkman Plaza area.

“I have literally seen this site evolve – from the first scoop of dirt, to the first foundation, to the first walls,” he said. “Seeing what it has become today, I’m simply amazed.”

The Wash Shack

Justin said inside the Wash Shack, there is a 140-foot-long tunnel for car washing – with both touchless and soft touch options.

“We have both systems in one car wash – most systems only have one or the other,” he said. “We did a poll in the area, and almost 80% of the respondents said they wanted touchless versus soft touch, but we got to thinking… if we only offered one option, we’d be losing the other 20% of our possible customers. By having both systems, we’re not eliminating anybody.”

Justin said the car wash is equipped with all the latest technology and equipment.

“The system does a fantastic job,” he said. “Also, because we are locally owned, we can do our own stuff – we can modify it anytime we’d like to improve on things.”

Outside, Justin said there are vacuums and rags for wiping down windows, etc.

“We also supply window cleaner for everybody,” he said. “Another thing we have – which can be overlooked – is a big enough parking lot. If you look at a lot of other car washes, they are jammed tight and don’t have enough room. We made sure we have enough room for everybody. People spend a lot of money on their cars, so we want to make sure we do it right.”

Justin said he co-owns and -operates the Wash Shack with Alan, and a third partner – Mike Wellens.

“We’ve been operating the car wash (for about a month),” Justin said. “A lot of that was just to make sure we had things dialed in and all the functions were working properly. Now that we’ve officially cut the ribbon, we’re ready to rock and roll.”

Wellens said if needed, the Wash Shack could accommodate more than 140 vehicles per hour.

“Obviously, we don’t have it set up to go quite that fast,” he laughed. “But, we could if needed. If you go to some of the car washes around the area, you’ll often see a line of cars waiting outside – you won’t see that here. I think the system we have here makes people more confident and willing to come because you won’t be sitting in a line waiting to get your car washed for an hour.”

Wisco Sips

With this being Wisco Sips’ second location in the Greater Green Bay area, Co-owner Jen Hintz said the goal of the new spot was strategic in nature.

She said it wasn’t easy deciding where to open the shop’s second location because “people from all over Northeast Wisconsin want a Wisco Sips in their area, too.”

“Having said that, I think Hobart is the perfect location,” she said. “It’s a growing area, and I’m really excited to be there. Highway 29 is a huge corridor for Green Bay – it’s always busy.”

Hintz said she officially announced the move into Folkman Plaza on St. Patrick’s Day – March 17.

“I would say we’ve been working on it for more than a year,” she said. “It was a long process, but I wanted to make sure everything was finalized before announcing things. Before I knew who was building the plaza, and before Justin knew my involvement (with Wisco Sips)… when we finally found out about each other, I realized that when Justin was younger, he used to actually help pit for my husband when he raced. It was totally meant to be.”

In addition to coffee, lattes, teas, non-coffee drinks and its “ever popular” Lotus energy drinks, Hintz said with walking trails nearby and the location’s easy access, she’s hoping to add to Wisco Sips’ menu.

“I was thinking of offering some kind of ice cream treat, too,” she said. “I’ve reached out to Dippin’ Dots to see if I can carry their stuff – everybody loves that. That would be easy for me to maintain, so I’m working on that to add.”

At the Elm View Road location, the menu also includes cookies, muffins and egg bites – something Hintz said she’d like to expand on in the Hobart location.

“I’m planning to have a few more quick bites, but I haven’t nailed that down yet,” she said. “Maybe some sort of breakfast sandwiches, burritos, etc., and maybe some lunch ones, too. It won’t be a huge menu, but if you’re on your way to work, you can get a sandwich and a drink, and off you go. I want to have more (in Hobart) because I have space for it, but it won’t be a full kitchen.”

Another addition, Hintz said, will be mocktails – a non-alcoholic beverage crafted to resemble a cocktail in appearance, using juices, herbs, syrups and other ingredients.

“We’re going to try out mocktails because that’s what the new generation is into,” she said. “There aren’t a lot of places that offer mocktails, so my thought process is that we’re going to try doing a mocktail of the week. I’m going to buy X amount of supplies, and it’s available until the supplies are gone or until the following week.”

Hintz said the goal is to eventually have a mocktail menu at the new location.

“The menu will change seasonally, or maybe we’ll have a standard and then change a couple seasonally,” she said. “This all depends on how well it goes over, but that’s the plan.”

Hintz said the Folkmans have been “amazing to work with.”

“We’ve already talked about working on some things in tandem,” she said. “Maybe go through the car wash and get a coffee discount – or vice versa. Doing some collaborating and doing what we can to help each other out. I think we’re going to have a lot of great things in the future.”

More growth coming

Kramer said the village is “not done yet in terms of growth.”

About 15 years ago, he said the area of Hobart centered around Centennial Boulevard – which is now home to multiple restaurants, businesses, townhouses, apartments and houses – was an empty farm field.

“The tax base out here has grown by a minimum of a quarter of a billion dollars,” Kramer said. “Then, on top of that – I’ve talked to a local realtor – the home equity that’s out here, the compounding effect of that, there’s another quarter of a billion dollars.”

And Kramer said “there is more stuff coming.”

“I can’t reveal what that is right now, but Bayland doesn’t rest – they are always bouncing ideas off my door,” he said. “It won’t be everything everybody wants because we simply don’t have the room, but free markets will determine what comes here.”