Oconto Falls development is on the rise

Lori Kaye Lodes

Contributor

December 16, 2024

OCONTO FALLS – Known as “The Friendly City,” Oconto Falls is on the cusp of becoming even friendlier, City Administrator Peter Wills said, thanks to commercial and residential developments in varying degrees of motion.

Among them is the recent news that there’s traction on the former Hardee’s property at 782 N. Main St., on what Wills said he terms an “A” location for the community. 

“We consider the corner of County Road B and Highway 22 the entrance to the city, so obviously, the city’s interest is to make sure there’s a viable business there,” he said. “Five thousand eight hundred cars pass there each day, and it’s one of the first things you see coming into the city.”

Wills said both the former Hardee’s and former Mobil gas station next door have been sitting empty since about 2017, with attempts to put a brewery, bar/restaurant and church there at different times.

He said the city has been making concerted efforts to redevelop that entire site – either jointly or separately – since 2022.

Wills said the current owner of the former Hardee’s bought it in 2021 and noted at the city council meeting in September that he has a plan for the property with a group of investors.

Will Faucett, project lead, said the development is in its early days but they are working on installing equipment and revitalizing both the interior and exterior to start a food manufacturing facility there called Edna M’s.

“We’re in the process of acquiring the property, and it’s been some time in the making,” Faucett said. “Our group of seven investors has been deciding what building fits our needs the best, and this building will be great for what we’re doing.”

Faucett said they were drawn to the property because it was built and designed for food manufacturing, and as such, provides the power needs, refrigeration and freezer capabilities needed.

“It’s a great, quality, stand-alone building with incredible structure,” he said. “It will take a bit of work (to set up the business) but not a lot to revitalize the actual building. The roof is new, and the structure is great.”

The fact that most of the facility’s refrigerator and freezer access points offer double doors to accommodate full pallets of product, Faucett said, is a bonus.

“We can move pallets back and forth, and I can see it getting to the scale that we’d be moving pallets around pretty easily throughout the facility,” he said.

Faucett said the group is currently connecting the right equipment to power and planning the product lines.

The investment group has an agreement for the property and anticipates the property title will follow in 2025.

Faucett said he’s excited to accelerate work on the property, including securing employees for it.

“It’s a great location just 30 minutes north of Green Bay, so you’ve got a great pool of talent to pull from for employment,” he said. “The town has been great to work with, and we’re excited to hear how the city has been working hard to continue to revitalize the area.”

Faucett said he’s heartened by the support from other companies in the area as well, including the grain mill located next door to the site.

Wills said he is equally excited to see the business’s efforts materialize and to have a functioning business at that location.

“It’s been a 20- to 22-year process with no successful enterprise going on there,” he said. 

Downtown is on the upswing

The energy and excitement about Oconto Falls’ downtown was vividly on display during its recent Main Street Christmas event – Grinch-themed this year – on Dec. 5.

As in the past eight years, hundreds of residents and other guests descended on Main Street to experience Oconto Falls’ version of Whoville, complete with lighting the Whoville tree and a sing-a-long, wagon rides and a scavenger hunt that took people through several downtown businesses. 

Wills said events like this are important to creating awareness and/or reminders of what all the community has to offer in its downtown.

“We have so many commuters, and it’s a matter of getting (them) to come down and experience the downtown,” he said. “Many local residents have admitted, ‘I didn’t know they offered that’ or ‘I didn’t realize that store opened’ or ‘I didn’t know I could get that in downtown Oconto Falls.’ That’s important.”

Melanie Rice, owner of The Flower Shoppe (224 N. Main St.), said she recognizes the downtown’s importance.

Her parents started The Flower Shoppe in Gillett, moving it to downtown Oconto Falls about 32 years ago.

Rice said she and her husband assumed ownership of the downtown shop about 22 years ago and have found the location to be just right.

“I am just so blessed,” she said. “This is a small town and this is a small store, but I take care of the community and they take care of me.”

Rice said she sees an upswing in the energy in the downtown and is excited to see what’s next for it.
“I hope people can see how valuable it is to have a great Main Street and to work together to continue to make it a special place,” she said.

Couill Custom Creations moves in

One of the newest businesses to participate in the Main Street Christmas event is Couill Custom Creations, which opened its doors to the public Dec. 3, just a few days ahead of the holiday event.

Owner Becky Couill said she started the business during the COVID-19 pandemic when she lost her job.

She said she and her husband, Joey, pooled their stimulus checks to purchase a Cricut machine and small laser and began making handcrafted items.

Becky said they quickly added a CNC machine to the mix and began selling their items at a variety of craft shows around the area and online.

Before they knew it, she said their handcrafting business outgrew the space available in their home – so they began searching for a dedicated brick-and-mortar location.

Becky said they found it at 211 N. Main St. in downtown Oconto Falls, just across the street from The Flower Shoppe.

She said they took it as an opportunity to expand the business, broadening it from selling their soy candles and wax melts, carpet refreshers, door hangers, porch learners and custom engraved items to also becoming a destination for other artisans’ handcrafted items as well.

Becky said they decided to set up consignment arrangements with a variety of artisans and secured the wares of about 20 other local handmade artists.

“We knew we couldn’t fill the store by ourselves, so we opened it to other handmade artists with a month-to-month, flexible arrangement,” Joey said. “It’s our way of helping other people while helping ourselves as well.”

When the store opened, she said, it had a variety of items available, including baby clothes, scrap metal art, greeting cards, charcuterie boards, string art, crocheted animals, handmade jewelry, candles and other items – all of which complemented what Couill Custom Creations creates.

“It’s like Etsy in person,” Becky said.

The Couills said they are excited for the new storefront to appeal to their existing customer base, while also appealing to new customers.

Doing it within the scope of the downtown Oconto Falls setting, they said, is equally exciting.

“We wanted to be local, and when we drove down Main Street, it just looked perfect,” Joey said. “We picked this over a mall because it was downtown. We wanted to be part of a small community, wanted to be local and this felt like the perfect spot for what we’re trying to do. I think it’ll cater to many of our existing customers and bring in new people.”

Other downtown traction in motion

This fall, Wills said Oconto Falls was announced as one of two new communities joining the Connect Communities Program by the Wisconsin Economic Development Corporation.

The program, he said, provides access to tools, resources and training to help communities pursue revitalization and redevelopment efforts.

Among other things, Wills said it will connect Oconto Falls with their Main Street peers in the program to share ideas for fostering growth.

“The program doesn’t automatically provide funding, but there are great resources from other Connect Communities around the state,” he said. “It’s about learning what’s working in Watertown, West Bend and other communities and adopting some of that.”

Oconto Falls’ downtown/Main Street, Wills said, was established in the 1870s and 1880s, close to the water and the lumber mill.

Today, he said, its downtown is home to a local diner, several hair stylists, a resale shop, an insurance agency, a gun shop, the new Couill Custom Creations and others – but Wills said there is room for further growth and revitalization.

“We have lost industry over the past 30 years due to changes that impacted many small communities, and (we’re asking ourselves) how we can further support live, work and play for residents as well as others who want to raise their kids in a really great small town,” he said. “It’s about asking, ‘How do we continue to enhance that?’”

Wills said Oconto Falls has established a TIF district, and as that builds, there will be more financial incentives for businesses.

He said he recognizes that will take time, but he’s noticed an acceleration of interest and energy.

“In the past two years, I’ve felt a shift and a change of endorsement of, ‘How do we help with this and grow this?’” he said. “There’s a reinvention happening to revitalize and re-energize the downtown that started with some of the business owners working with the city but also with the USDA, WEDC and others.”

In 2020, Wills said the city entered a grant program with the USDA to hire a consultant to evaluate the downtown and prioritize their revitalization efforts.

One thing they dialed into, he said, is the need to return space slated as commercial to commercial use.

In several cases, buildings downtown that sat vacant turned their first-floor commercial space into residential rental property to help fill the housing gap.

“We are now working with the businesses to not only improve the condition of these buildings but also return them to the original condition, and that includes using (the first-floor space) in a commercial fashion,” he said. “This is fundamental to enhancing and developing our downtown.”

Wills said that change does beg the question: where do these people secure housing? Fortunately, he said he is seeking interest in residential development as he recognizes there is a shortage of housing in the community.

Wills said several developers have expressed interest in full subdivision creation, particularly closer to the Highland Drive area on the north end of the city.

“We’re looking at how we can build some more apartments and housing so folks on the first floor of these buildings can find homes without a big disruption,” he said. “We’re working on adding both single-family and multi-family homes to provide more choices.”

Wills said there’s plenty of infrastructure work underway as well, whether it’s the road project to reconstruct Columbia Street, for which the city received a $1 million boost from a Community Development Block Grant; the new middle school opening in August 2025 that required the annexation of 99 acres or the new fire station.

“There’s a lot of that kind of development happening there that doesn’t get a big splash,” he said. “There are some cool things happening up north (in Oconto Falls).”