Affordable Housing Project Underway in Sturgeon Bay

Construction has begun this summer on The Avenue, a new affordable housing development near the intersection of North 14th Avenue and Georgia Street.  

Developer Brian Spoerl of Spoerl Commercial has started work on the first phase, a three-story, 39-unit apartment building. The project received low-income housing tax credits (LIHTC) from the Wisconsin Housing and Economic Development Authority (WHEDA), and the city approved a development agreement that provides tax-increment financing incentives through Tax Incremental District (TID) #6. 

Spoerl said he expects the first building to be ready for occupancy next June, with apartments available to households earning between 30-60% of the area median income. He anticipates the building will be fully occupied by the end of 2027...

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Leo's notes: The Avenue offers a particularly strong model by pairing 39 income-restricted apartments with a second 20-unit phase aimed at households earning 80–100% of area median income. That second tier matters: many working households earn too much for traditional affordable housing but still struggle in Door County’s constrained market. Combining LIHTC, local TIF and WHEDA’s Vacancy-to-Vitality program demonstrates how different financing tools can work together to serve a broader continuum of housing need.