Honey Creek Property Plans
On Thursday, January 18, the WLHS Board of Directors heard a presentation about the Honey Creek property development from Mr. Scott Beyer who is the building committee chairman and Attorney Joseph Tierney who is representing WLHS in the matter. WLHS is proposing a plan to improve our dormitory and student housing which would be funded in part by a recent $500,000 donation. The remainder of the project would be funded outside the budget through other donations and private investors who are friends of Wisco.
Read below for a project overview with more details.
Background Current Buildings
- 6 buildings along Bluemound Road and Honey Creek Parkway
- 20 units housing 31 of WLHS Students and 16 of Tenants
- Buildings were generally constructed between 1943 and 1979 and require significant annual maintenance and upkeep.
- Housing layout is less than ideal for student housing
- Student supervision and monitoring/safety concerns
- Limited student social and gathering capabilities
- $1.5M loan payment due in June from campaign utilized to purchase the property.
Honey Creek Project Plans
- Tear down all six buildings currently owned by WLHS
- Build 2 new buildings in their place
- One dorm to house students and supervisors
- One market rate apartment building with approximately 60 apartment units with underground parking
- Revenue generated from the Market Rate Apartments will help offset some of the cost of the Dorm for Wisco
Benefits for WLHS
- Dormitory will allow us to grow our International and domestic program with the ability to house 72 students versus 44 today, allowing us to reach more families with God’s word.
- Provide a safer, more controlled environment for students housed on campus.
- Eliminate the repair and maintenance costs related to the 6 aging buildings.
- Allow Wisco to exit the property management business, freeing up time and money, to focus on our core business of educating students.
- Offset part of the housing costs related to the dorms with the revenue from the market rate apartments.
- Provide funds to pay the $1.5M loan payment due in June.
- Maintain control of how the buildings, both market rate and dorm, will be utilized in the future.
- Provide Wisco with the flexibility to exit the building ownership investment in the future if desired.
- POTENTIAL to eliminate property tax on the student housing building and pass the benefit back to Wisco.
Mr. Scott Beyer and Mr. Dave Baacke, Director of Operations, showed how WLHS would project long-term cost savings by avoiding all of the building repairs, deferred maintenance on the apartments, capital improvements, and debt serving that we would incur if we failed to move forward with this project.
The attorney explained the transaction steps, legal issues and how two limited liability corporations will be set up in order to help organize the project. The attorney explained the many more "pros" than “cons” of the legal structure that he is proposing.
If you’d like to learn more about this, you’re welcome to come to the Delegate meeting on February 7, at 7:00 p.m. at WLHS when it will be presented again for their approval of the land transfer; however, the board did approve recommending to the delegates that WLHS move forward with this project.
