There was a good crowd standing in a field along Pleasant View Road in Plymouth on Friday, Oct. 16, and for once the speeches were about something contractors care about: dirt, streets and a lot of houses.
Gov. Tony Evers and Elmer Moore Jr., CEO and executive director of the Wisconsin Housing and Economic Development Authority, joined local leaders and employers to break ground on Scholar's Ridge, a subdivision that will hold 102 new single-family homes on 32 acres. According to WHEDA's announcement, each home will be priced to give working families a realistic shot at owning.
The project is being developed through the Sheboygan County Economic Development Corporation's Housing Initiative. Scholar's Ridge is the third subdivision to come out of that effort, which is working toward 600 entry-level single-family homes to ease what the county calls a critical housing shortage.
How the money came together
This is not a deal one lender wrote a check for. The land was bought with Sheboygan County's federal American Rescue Plan Act dollars. Private donors in the county's Forward Fund chipped in: Sargento, Masters Gallery Foods, Kohler and Johnsonville. The City of Plymouth put money in too.
The piece that matters most to anyone who builds streets and lays pipe is a $3.4 million Infrastructure Access Loan from WHEDA. The agency says it's the first time that loan has gone to a new single-family development. The program is meant to cover public infrastructure such as water systems, roads and utility extensions, the kind of up-front cost that usually lands on the developer and gets passed along in the lot price.
That loan program is one of three, along with Vacancy-to-Vitality and Restore Main Street, created by bipartisan legislation Evers signed in 2023. They're backed by $525 million from the 2023-25 state budget, which WHEDA calls the largest state investment in workforce housing in Wisconsin history. The agency says the three programs have supported nearly 3,500 workforce housing units statewide so far.
"With the addition of Scholar's Ridge, Sheboygan County is creating the blueprint for the public-private partnerships required to accomplish projects like this," Evers said, adding that Plymouth "will have over 100 more affordable homes."
Moore put it more simply: "Building the housing Wisconsin needs requires innovation, investment, and collaboration."
Who's building and who's paying
The Sheboygan Sun, which covered the ceremony, reported that Werner Homes will be the builder for the subdivision. The paper also reported the City of Plymouth put $2 million toward the project, and Mayor Don Pohlman said the city did it "without touching a penny of the City of Plymouth citizen's tax dollars."
Pohlman said the idea for more single-family housing in town took shape back in 2023. He also mentioned that the school superintendent is "thrilled to have new students."
SCEDC chairperson Don Hammond said the day "marks more than the start of construction, it marks new opportunities for individuals and families to put down roots." Rep. Joe Sheehan, U.S. Rep. Glenn Grothman and representatives from the donor companies were also on hand, the Sun reported.
Neither the state nor the county has published individual home prices or a construction schedule yet, so folks hoping to buy will need to keep an eye out for sales details.
Why it matters for Contractors
A 102-lot subdivision means a long list of jobs, and they don't all go to one company. Before a single house goes up, somebody has to grade the site, put in water and sewer mains, pour curbs and pave streets. Those are exactly the costs WHEDA's Infrastructure Access Loan is built to cover. Once lots are ready, the builder will need framers, roofers, electricians, plumbers, HVAC installers, drywall crews, concrete flatwork and landscapers, house after house.
Starter homes also live and die on cost control. When a project is promised to working families, every bid gets a hard look. Contractors who can price tight, show up on schedule and repeat the same quality on house 80 as on house 1 are the ones who'll keep getting called.
The bigger picture is worth watching too. SCEDC has two subdivisions behind this one and a goal of 600 homes. And WHEDA has now shown that the Infrastructure Access Loan can work for single-family lots, not just apartment projects. If other counties copy the Sheboygan County model, more of these entry-level subdivisions could be coming to small towns across Wisconsin.