PLEASANT PRAIRIE, Wis. — Dermody, a real estate company in Nevada, is contracted to buy the former We Energies power plant property in Pleasant Prairie, according to our partners at the Milwaukee Business Journal.
The real estate company is planning a $226 million industrial park with about 2.2 million square feet of buildings.
The redevelopment plan could also possibly acquire additional industrial projects on 417 acres between 104th Street and Bain Station road, and west of the Union Pacific Railroad, according to the village staff report.
We Energies retired the plant in April of 2018 and announced plans to demolish it this summer for an expected buyer, which was later revealed to be Dermody Properties.
According to the Milwaukee Business Journal, We Energies declined to comment on the pending sale other than to confirm that one of the two former power plant properties in Pleasant Prairie is under contract for sale.
Dermody Properties is a national industrial real estate player in Reno with a sizable presence in the Chicago market.
Dermody is currently in discussions with the Village of Pleasant Prairie to convert the We Energies property into a build-ready business park.
Neal Driscoll, a Midwest partner for Dermody Property, believes there are fewer opportunities for larger industrial sites in the Chicago region.
“There are just so few opportunities to find large industrial sites in particular throughout the region that includes most of Chicago to build larger-scale warehouses right now,” Driscoll told the Milwaukee Business Journal. “Wisconsin continues to be a huge benefactor of that overflow of demand and the lack of availability, particularly in the north side of the Chicago market."
Pending final approvals from the village in September, the land could change hands for the site work to begin in the fall, according to Driscoll.
"Conceptually, the retention ponds would be dug, the public road built and the building pads graded by the end of this year so building groundbreakings could start by spring 2023 for completion later that year or in early 2024," he told the Milwaukee Business Journal.
