A yearslong development by Tim Kuehn, owner of Margarita’s restaurant, for the corner of Lombardi Avenue and South Ridge Road has preliminary interest from two national tenants, but has lost the cooperation of a local apartment developer.
During the Green Bay Plan Commission’s June 8 meeting, Kuehn said he had gotten two memorandums of understanding from “two major national tenants” looking to occupy his proposed commercial and residential development in early 2029. Kuehn did not specify the prospective tenants.
In anticipation of those tenants, Kuehn said he aimed to bury service lines in April 2027. He said he was in discussions with city staff on a term sheet, a preliminary document outlining terms and conditions of a business agreement.
Stripped from the development was a previous arrangement with Mike Coppens, who had looked to build an apartment building criticized by some for being ill-fitting with the surrounding neighborhood.
Kuehn and Coppens in January 2025 had secured the Green Bay City Council’s approval to turn the largely vacant three acres fronting Lambeau Field into several multi-story buildings with commercial, office, retail and residential uses.
Though Kuehn owns most of the land, Coppens owns 1820 Frank St., jutting into Kuehn’s holdings.
It was understood that Coppens would give up his property to Kuehn in exchange for land to build an eight-unit apartment building. Initially, that land was across Frank Street at the corner of Shadow Lane. According to Kuehn, following criticism from neighbors of having a roughly 50-foot building adjacent to their homes, Kuehn liked the idea of having Coppens build instead on the corner of Frank and Thorndale streets.
Negotiations have since fallen through on the land swap, city planner Stephanie Hummel told the city’s Plan Commission on June 8.
Kuehn told commissioners that Coppens had not signed a land exchange agreement given at the same time as the City Council’s greenlight for the development. Coppens, who did not testify at the commission meeting, applied in February for variances from the state to allow for his eight-unit apartment building, according to Kuehn. He said the variances had included “additional property of mine,” which was disagreeable to him.
“I was not willing or able – I wasn’t going to give up more property of my own in order for him to facilitate eight units,” Kuehn said.
Coppens’ exit was the latest adaptation in Kuehn’s ambitions for the property. Since buying parts of the area in 2014, then leveling and demolishing the previous office buildings and homes, Kuehn proposed in 2016 to build a four-story retail-office building called Vainisi Plaza. In 2025, the City Council approved his latest plans for a retail, commercial and office building along Lombardi Avenue, plus a residential and retail building at the corner of South Ridge Road and Thorndale Street.
Residents have expressed their concerns over the project’s scale, with buildings between 50 and 75 feet tall, as being incompatible with the residential Lombardi neighborhood, along with worries over increased traffic and noise pollution.
Kuehn will still press forward with his development and work around Coppens’ property protruding into his. The Plan Commission endorsed an amended development plan, which must get final approval from the City Council on June 16, to add a 6-foot-tall fence and a total of 10 trees and 50 bushes as a buffer along Coppens’ property. The commission also endorsed a reduction in parking stalls, from 184 to 174 stalls, caused by the exclusion of the Coppens’ property from the larger development plans.
Jesse Lin is a reporter covering the community of Green Bay and its surroundings, as well as politics in northeastern Wisconsin. He also writes a weekly column answering reader questions about Green Bay. Contact and send him questions at 920-834-4250 or jlin@usatodayco.com.
This article originally appeared on Green Bay Press-Gazette: ‘2 major national tenants’ eye land across from Lambeau Field
Reporting by Jesse Lin, Green Bay Press-Gazette / Green Bay Press-Gazette
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By Jesse Lin, Green Bay Press-Gazette | USA TODAY Network
