By Neil Johnson njohnson@gazettextra.com April 7, 2022
JANESVILLE
A 175-acre swath of land on Janesville’s south side that for decades has housed part of a local pheasant farm could house a new, landmark development—one that would start with a hydroponic industrial greenhouse operation but later could include a swath of new homes and apartments, and several parcels geared for light- to medium-duty industry.
More details are expected to roll out in a neighborhood open house Tuesday at Jackson Elementary School, but developers and landowners involved said a development would leverage land that for decades has been used mainly to house thousands of farmed pheasants in outdoor enclosures.
But John Ford, President of Milwaukee development firm Three Leaf Partners, confirmed the firm seeks to develop land at the northeast corner of Highway 11 and Highway 51 that now houses parts of MacFarlane Pheasants. The plan, Ford said, is to convert the land to a mixed-use development that could total $300 million in private investment and at some point could bring 500 new jobs to the south side.
In a proposed development he said would be “catalytic” for Janesville and its south side, Ford told The Gazette that Three Leaf Partners has had a consultant surveying dozens of nearby residents and commercial operators for the last few weeks to share some details of the development concept.
Ford said his firm hasn’t yet launched a public process, but it’s seeking to buy 175 acres of land owned by the MacFarlane family—about 140 acres of which are in the town of Rock just outside of Janesville city limits.
The property, including about 35 acres of which is active farmland, is adjacent to portions of the city’s south side industrial park and is bookended by dozens of homes in residential subdivisions to the north and south.
Ford said it could take years to fully develop the parcel, but the initial development would be a 65-acre industrial greenhouse development by Local Roots. That’s an Indiana-based agricultural company that says it uses European practices including water conservation technology in what the company describes as hydroponic indoor farming of a variety of produce, including lettuce and strawberries.
A Local Roots official is among those Ford said intend to attend the neighborhood open house Tuesday afternoon at Jackson Elementary. Ford said plans to show guests illustrations and site plans, give summaries of projects proposed and flesh out how the development will be connected to neighboring areas, along with lighting and green space plans.
The open house also will yield clues, he said, about the timeline of the project moving past land acquisition and a due diligence phases and into public zoning processes, which would include a request for the city to annex the MacFarlane Pheasants land that's in the town of Rock into the city of Janesville.
He said Three Leaf Partners has been working with the city and with property owners for a year to put together a plan. Zoning and other development considerations haven’t rolled out yet in the public sphere.
The open house Tuesday is being held by the Three Leaf Partners, but the city of Janesville circulated a notice of the event late this week because it’s possible a quorum of Janesville City Council members could attend to check out presentations.
The city’s planning department and the city manager’s office did not immediately respond to Gazette inquiries on the city’s involvement in the emerging development.
Bill MacFarlane, who owns and operates MacFarlane Pheasants, a family-run operation of about 60 employees in Janesville, told The Gazette this week that he’s working to sell the parcel on the northeast corner of Highway 11 and Highway 51, which is just part of hundreds of acres the family uses on the south side to house multiple arrays of netted enclosures that hold pheasants the farm raises.
MacFarlane said he’s made it clear to his employees that he has no intention of folding up shop in Janesville, one of several Wisconsin cities where the family’s operated pheasant farms since the late 1920s.
He said interest in pheasants and pheasant hunting peaked during the COVID-19 pandemic as outdoor hobbies flourished. MacFarlane’s seen an uptick in demand for his company's farmed pheasants ever since.
MacFarlane said his company is exploring finding local acreage to move part of its operation after it sells off the land at Highway 11 and Highway 51.
“We haven’t decided where that will be, but it’ll be somewhere around here. We’re not leaving, I want to make that very clear,” he said.
Ford didn’t provide images or renderings this week, but he said the public will be able to see many of the conceptual elements of the proposal on Tuesday—parts of which he said could take years to develop.
Overall, Ford said, the intention is to site single-family housing contiguous to a residential neighborhood north of the proposed industrial part of the development.
The plan includes “affordable” multi-family housing as an option.
Three Leaf Partners is extensively involved in affordable housing projects throughout Wisconsin, according to its portfolio of developments.
“We really feel a tremendous need for the community is for affordable, multifamily housing,” Ford said.
About 56 acres of the southern expanse where MacFarlane now operates the pheasant farm would be sectioned off for multiple industrial uses, and the rest of the land would support the hydroponic operation.
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