What's Next For Delphi?

The Oak Creek Common Council made some major decisions regarding the Delphi redevelopment project in the early part of 2012.

While that may make the next few weeks and months a little quieter, work to redevelop the vacant 85 acres at the corner of Drexel and Howell will still go on behind the scenes.

Mayor-elect Steve Scaffidi said the city has several things it wants to accomplish in the near future, now that the city hall and library location has been decided, the land swap proposal approved and a tax-incremental financing district implemented.

Recruiting quality tenants is at the top of the list. Talks have been ongoing throughout the last several months and city officials have said that interest in the site is "significant."

More could be known in May, when representatives from the city and Wispark will attend the International Council of Shopping Centers convention in Las Vegas. There, they will meet with potential companies in the hopes of moving closer to landing key tenants.

"(The convention) is going to tell us who's interested," Scaffidi said.

While officials woo businesses, the city is working to get grant money to offset development costs.

One of the first steps in the Delphi redevelopment is to remove the asphalt on the 85-acre site, and officials hope grants will cover at least a portion, if not the entire, cost of that endeavor.

"Every time we get a grant it saves our taxpayers money," Scaffidi said. "We're going to go after them and so far, we think we're going to be successful."

The Common Council will also hire a firm to provide "owner's representative" services for the construction of a new , and . The firm will help guide the city through the design, construction and ongoing operations of each of the three buildings, according to a report to council members.

"Someone to kind of look out for our interests, make sure we're going the right direction," Scaffidi said.

The council is expected to vote Monday to ask interested firms to provide qualifications. More details, including cost, will be known when a selection is finalized.

Discussion about the construction of a new library and city hall -- what those buildings will look like, the size, the cost -- will continue throughout the year. Library officials are set to begin a capital fundraising campaign to make the building a public-private partnership.

Construction on the civic buildings isn't expected to start until 2013.

For archived coverage of the Delphi redevleopment project, check out Oak Creek Patch's Delphi page.