A future project on the former Mirro site in Manitowoc is still moving forward.
A WOMT listener asked if a deal that allowed the city to develop the property fell through.
Mayor Justin Nickels re-explained on WOMT’s Be My Guest Program that the city is still working with a developer now that they’ve received a grant to start the cleanup process.
The almost $2 million grant from the US Environmental Protection Agency will be used to demolish the remaining concrete building slab, excavate and dispose of certain soils, and demolish what’s left of the utility tunnel below the surface.
Nickels says if you’ve seen anyone at the site, they’ve been working on the final check of the soil before the deconstruction.
The contractor the city is working with would help develop a 59-unit housing project.
Nickels says the apartments are not low-income housing but workforce housing, meaning when it comes to rent.
“So, it’s based off of income,” Nickels described. “They will be built like market rate, so it’s going to be a $15 million building, and they will be very nice apartments. And the example that I give to folks is if you make $100,000 a year, you’ll pay $2,000 in rent. Whatever the market rate would be.”
But that doesn’t mean it will be that high, according to the mayor.
Nickels also explained that the developer will be applying for tax credits which were denied before the city got the grant.
The demolition of the former Mirro plant started in 2016, and the land has been vacant for years.
