Kenosha Co. Human Services Building on track to open in 2026

Kenosha County’s Human Services Building is beginning to take shape as crews advanced construction this week on the new two-story structure at 3500 52nd St.

County Project Manager Frank Martinelli said the final structural steel is in place, including those for the building’s new façade that faces the parking lot at the Sun Plaza shopping center.

“The final steel, especially in the front where it’s coming into the parking lot … is literally finishing up this week,” Martinelli said Wednesday.

The building is the new home for 11 county Human Services Department divisions and agencies, which will be under one roof in the 79,757-square-foot project. In total, it develops a 147,000-square-foot facility and will consist of remaining retail space.

“We’ve been pouring all the footings, putting all the steel vertical, but then it starts to come together and wrap around – all the decking is 80% done – and so all of a sudden you start seeing that decking, the roof and the beginning of that going on.”

Martinelli said that the work on the building itself was 25% complete with the total project at 35% done by midweek.

The county, architect Partners in Design, Bear Development, and CMA, which is in charge of construction, united to break ground on the project in September 2023.

Since then, crews have been busy with demolition on the northeast portion of the former shopping center, along with excavation and installation of underground utilities. Because a dry cleaning business had previously occupied part of the site, “vapor mitigation” with a special plastic membrane to seal the ground had to be installed along with a passive ventilation system to allow gases, if any, to escape through the building’s roof.

In all, Martinelli said the $30 million building project continues to be on track for completion by the second quarter of 2026.

“The masonry for the building’s skeleton is 95% done and then we’ll start filling in the exterior to try to get the entire building enclosed, hopefully, (by) January-February,” he said. In the next two months, crews are expected to start pouring the interior concrete floors.

County human services divisions are expected to move from their current home at the Job Center at 8600 Sheridan Road to the new building in 2026. The divisions and agencies include public health; vocational rehabilitation; food share and employment training; economic support; veteran services; Wisconsin Works; aging, disability and behavioral health; the job center itself; Prevention Services Network; children and family services; and child support services.

Earlier this spring, wet weather slowed the project somewhat. The relatively dry early fall weather has proved advantageous for construction, according to Martinelli.

“We’ve had a great fall here for work,” he said.