Coordinator, a position funded by the Forward Foundation’s Vision Forward Fund, to continue aligning education with employer needs. CLOSING THE HOUSING GAP Another area identified as an opportunity for improvement was in the area of housing. Seventy-seven percent of the responding businesses believed the city needed to improve its housing stock. A study conducted by the UW-Whitewater Fiscal and Economic Research Center, funded by the Vision Forward Fund, confirmed the belief that there is a shortage of options at every pricing level. This area, perhaps more than any other, poses a threat to the current optimism and business success Janesville is experiencing. Kuborn says the city is making moves to alleviate the issue. “We support the multi-family housing as we can, through TIF incentives,” says Kuborn. “And then when it comes to single-family housing or townhomes or duplexes, we’re in the middle of doing a zoning and building code update to try to enable more, and decrease some of the constraints to try to make it easier.” The problem is not new. Otterstein cited a Housing and Development Summit hosted in 2018 by the City of Janesville to address a shortage of available housing, which local businesses at the time cited as a hindrance to attracting a strong workforce. According to Otterstein, the summit revealed that stagnant rental prices and high construction costs had created a gap that made multi-family developments unprofitable for builders. “In response to the issues identified at the summit,” said Otterstein, “the city took decisive steps to encourage multi-family housing development.” These steps included amending development policies to aggressively promote multi-family projects, marketing to developers from outside the city, and modifying its policy to allow the city to offer incentive-gap financing to help bridge the funding gap for larger projects. In the years following the summit, Janesville saw success in attracting new developments. “News and city records frequently mention new projects and forums discussing the city's housing strategy,” according to Otterstein. Kuborn specifically calls out Hovde Properties, who recently opened the Idylwood Residences, a 219-unit community on Janesville’s east side. Idylwood joins two other 200-plus unit Hovde developments near Palmer Park, the Glade Residences and Woodsview Apartments. Hovde “truly believes in Janesville,” says Kuborn. “I think it’s super exciting.” “Janesville has done a phenomenal job with where it’s at,” says Erik Burns, Hovde’s Vice President of Residential Management. “The City of Janesville made us feel very welcome and were very easy to work with. And owning Woodsview for many, many years, we saw the need for additional high-quality rental housing in that marketplace.” During the week of Idylwood’s public open house in September, Burns reported that the Idylwood was already over 50% leased. “Typically, we would build a property like that in phases, and basically fill it in,” Burns says. “But this time, we opted to build the whole thing at once.” Burns predicts that the Idylwood will be fully leased by August 2026. The Glade opened in phases between 2020 and 2022, and the success of that development gave Hovde the confidence to continue building in Janesville. “The Glade successfully leased up, and then we decided to pursue building Idylwood, which (became) our third community (in Janesville),” Burns says. “So now we have three communities, and they are all different pricing options. Woodsview is the most affordable option, but all offer amenities. Every community has a swimming pool, and has a very nice fitness center.” “I think the growth potential (in Janesville) is significant,” says Burns. “Janesville’s ongoing economic success, job growth, and great leadership have created a strong and lasting demand for high quality housing. We’re confident that trend is going to continue. Our development plans will always be guided by market data, to ensure a healthy balance between supply and demand. You always have to monitor that and make sure you don’t overbuild in any community.” BUILDING THE SPACE FOR WHAT’S NEXT While Madison-based Hovde has invested in Janesville with residential development, another regional company has come in strong on the commercial side. “We’ve got Zilber (Property Group), who has rebuilt most of the industrial space in the city of Janesville,” Kuborn says. “They’re based out of Milwaukee, but they just continue to bet on Janesville and invest in Janesville.” Zilber recently began construction of Zilber Industrial 13, a 238,000-square-foot industrial facility near the intersection of Beloit Avenue and Highway 11 on Janesville’s south side. The building will be the first developed within Janesville Innovation Park, a 110acre industrial development with future capacity for over 1.8 million square feet of industrial space. Zilber also announced this summer that they had leased a 286,420square-foot facility in the same area to Horseshoe Beverage Company LLC, an affiliate of Trilliant Food & Nutrition, LLC. These were just the latest examples of Zilber’s continuing presence in Janesville. The company owns and manages approximately 10 | FORWARD JANESVILLE Hovde Properties cut the ribbon this year to celebrate opening The Idylwood Residences. “Janesville’s ongoing economic success, job growth, and great leadership have created a strong and lasting demand for high quality housing. We’re confident that trend is going to continue.”
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