Lakeview Villas near completion as “housing remains a challenge”

Rachel Kroeger

Staff

January 12, 2026

RIPON – Glenn Elmer – broker/co-owner of Adashun Jones Signature Homes in Fond du Lac – said construction of Ripon’s newest, forthcoming subdivision is “well underway” as the custom home design/build firm works toward the completion of the Lakeview Villas initial condominiums.

“Progress is going really great – we actually have the roads and infrastructure all in,” he said. “The paving was all completed in early December for the first phase of the project, which is 14 new condominium units.”

Elmer said the project – first reported by The Business News in its Jan. 13, 2025, issue – initially includes a building designed to house the first two units and is expected to be sale- and show-ready later this spring.

“We’re actually in the insulating stages of the first two units, and we’re hoping to have a finished product ready for occupancy sometime in early March,” he said. “We build one unit as a model to show off the product so people can see exactly what the finished options look like, then the opposite side of that is available for sale.”

Elmer said it’s common practice for developers to build initial units “on speculation” – breaking ground on additional condos only after the completed units are under contract.

“As soon as we have a contract on that unit, we start the next building,” he said. “So, we continue to build on speculation as we sell the units, [and] just keep going until we’re sold out.”

Interest in the Lakeview Villas properties, Elmer said, is prevalent as the project evolves.

“We’ve had several private showings already, and a lot of people have shown interest,” he said. “So, I would suspect we’ll have a unit under contract, if not two units under contract, by spring.”

Elmer said the individual units are pre-priced – with the listing price depending on their specs, finishes, etc.

“We have one unit that is a three-bedroom, three-bathroom with a finished floor level that I believe is priced at $459,900,” he said. “Then, we have another unit which has the option for a finished floor level, but otherwise it’s a two-bedroom, two-bathroom with a nice covered screen porch, and that unit is listed, I believe, at $399,900.”

Trickle-down housing opportunities

City Administrator Adam Sonntag said the Lakeview Villas project is the result of a collaboration between the City of Ripon, Adashun Jones Real Estate and Signature Homes and Machkovich Lands LLC, established to help alleviate its ongoing housing shortage.

“Housing remains a challenge,” he said. “Even with doing what we have done…, we have a lot of individuals or families moving from outside of the community into the community. So, a lot of the new housing growth isn’t necessarily housing that existing residents are moving into. It’s housing for new residents.”

Elmer and Sonntag said the city and its private partners hope that by creating new housing options for incoming residents, more starter-home opportunities will become available in the existing market.

“This project is kind of geared to try to open up those buyers who want to get into condominium living, and we’re going to free up those homes to sell that will probably be more in that entry-level price point,” Elmer said. “It’s a trickle-down effect creating more opportunity for people.”

Several years ago, Sonntag said the City of Ripon conducted a housing study after hearing from employers that a lack of new housing and available rentals made it difficult for prospective employees to relocate to the area.

“Even trying to relocate to the community myself was extremely difficult,” he said. “So, it led us… to do a housing study, and we pretty much found a 0% vacancy rate in our single-family homes, a 0.5% vacancy rate in our rentals and a need for 100-150 units immediately.”

This year, Sonntag said efforts are only ramping up as they work to make Ripon more accessible for current and future residents.

“The new housing is being filled, so I think we’re seeing growth in a really positive way, but there are still opportunities to build upon that growth even more,” he said. “What we’re focused on moving into 2026, we’ll start a larger multifamily project, and then we’ll be issuing an RFP for an approximately 15-acre site the City of Ripon purchased on the south side of town… So, we’re just really continuing to put the pieces in place this past year and build on the momentum going into [this] year.”