Prairie du Sac and Sauk City already face high housing prices (2024)

SAUK CITY— Sauk City and Prairie du Sac have spent more than a decade promoting two great assets: the Wisconsin River and the Great Sauk Trail.

The villages are now about a 20-minute drive from Madison's Far West Side, thanks to a $126 million road project completed in 2005 that expanded Highway 12 to four lanes.

There are new and upgraded parks. The Great Sauk Trail, a 10.5-mile, paved bike path that opened in 2017, runs along the river and into the prairies and wide-open expanses of the former Badger Army Ammunition Plant. There are plans to connect the trail to Devil’s Lake State Park and to build a bridge to connect the trail to Dane County.

“That trail is a sales tool for us,” said Tywana German, executive director of the Sauk Prairie Area Chamber of Commerce since 2009. “The branding is paying huge dividends.”

But as more people see the value in living in the area, rising home prices have made it just a dream for many. Most of the new homes built cost more than $500,000. German said about 3,000 people commute into the area each day because they are unable to buy a home or afford rent.

That’s why the Sauk Prairie School District in 2023 sold nearly 40 acres of land to private developers with a contractual agreement to build an affordable, multi-family housing development just south of the hospital and west of Culver Community Park in Prairie du Sac.

The project is the largest investment in housing in the community’s history and includes six buildings with 15 to 20 apartments each. Under the district’s agreement with the developer, rents will be set below market rate for 10 years. In addition, a $3.8-million shared childcare center for up to 160 children will be constructed and staffed with employees making between $17 to $22 plus benefits, German said.

“Our home price is a hinderance,” German said. “We are drawing families who are professionals, and they are the ones who can afford the housing we currently have. We have no apartments in this area. So, to bring a younger family out here there was no place for them to live when you think of traditional tower apartment complexes.”

Five buildings with 30 to 40 luxury apartments with a pool and clubhouse will also be built, along with 30 two-unit condos with a shared clubhouse and pool. The project also may include an independent senior living facility.

The old Sauk Prairie Healthcare hospital in Prairie du Sac, largely vacant with the exception of its workout facility and rehabilitation services, is being eyed for housing as well, German said. The new hospital has plans for expansion that would move its 30 to 40 rehab employees out of the older facility, paving the way for redevelopment that could include apartments and condominiums on land that is now home to the parking lot.

And more housing will still be needed as one study predicts the Sauk City and Prairie du Sac will need 600 to 800 units in the next 10 years.

German wants to ensure that her community can handle the growth, which is why she wants to reach out to some of the fast-growing suburbs of Dane County to hear what lessons they have learned.

“We need to stop and ask ‘What do you wish someone would have told you 10 or 15 years ago when you started seeing this growth?’” German said. “I don’t think we’re going to be just like them because we are landlocked and they had open space, but I still think we have to be prepared.”