There’s a big new housing development underway in Crandon that could provide options for people who want to live and work in Forest County.
In Forest County, like much of the Northwoods, housing availability is scarce.
Chris Shafer is the Director of the Forest County Chamber of Commerce. He says that hasn’t been good for business.
“We have so many businesses within Forest County, Crandon area, etc, that they've needed employees, and they just have not had a place. I mean, they wanted to hire people, but they couldn't bring people in because there was no place to put them,” said Shafer.
“This is just that shot in the arm that, quite frankly, that the county's been looking for for a long time,” he said.
Wisconsin builder C3 Development LLC, announced a new housing development called Tower Road Acres on 240 acres of wooded land in the rural township of Crandon.
Right now the developer is selling 10 five-acre parcels with more to come in October.
Chad Albrecht is the realtor for the development.
“It gives people a lot of flexibility for building privacy, and opens up a whole nother avenue for people to enjoy the Northwoods, basically, whether it's their second home, single family homes, it’ll work for all,” he explained.
Next year, they expect to build a 40-unit apartment complex on the east side of the property.
“That's kind of one of the biggest concerns we've been hearing from employers, is people want to come here and work, but there's no housing available to, you know, move their families to this area, so then they would have to travel too far. So we're trying to combat that problem,” he said.
Again the Chamber’s Chris Shafer-
“It's going to be just a huge economic boost. Again, we clearly need more jobs. We need more industry, etc. And by having housing and by having people here, that's going to allow different businesses to be able to expand,” said Shafer.
This development will also increase Forest County’s tax-based land.
Shafer says there’s no county money involved in the project, but they will assist in finding USDA grants, loans, and anything else needed for the development’s infrastructure.
You can view the development plans at the Visit Forest County office.
Produced with assistance from the Public Media Journalists Association Editor Corps funded by the Corporation for Public Broadcasting, a private corporation funded by the American people.
