When it comes to Sturgeon Bay’s west waterfront, city officials are opting to go with housing over a hotel for the parcel.

The Sturgeon Bay Common Council is expected to weigh in on financial incentives for the Sawyer Park Flats and direct city staff members to begin creating a development agreement with conditions. Developers have been jockeying for the site over the last several months. A 53-unit apartment building had been previously approved for the site at 54 E. Maple Street, but the project fell through due to the higher-than-anticipated construction costs and interest rates.

Cobblestone Hotels has also expressed interest in the site after it failed to agree to purchase the land near 12th Avenue and Egg Harbor Road. In March, the developers asked for approximately $1.32 million in incentives, which the city believes can be covered using funds from Tax Increment District #4 thanks to a guaranteed property value assessment of $7 million. As a part of the proposed agreement, the city would have sold the parcel to Cobblestone Hotels for $1 and be required to construct a new public parking lot. In this proposal, the city would sell First & Main Properties, LLC, the parcel for $ 1, and give approximately $2.8 million in incentives to build the 54-unit building, which would carry a guaranteed property value assessment of $13.6 million.

According to the staff report, the city encourages the council to go with the Sawyer Park Flats because it provides a greater value to the TID and a higher value to the other tax authorities once it closes. The report also encourages city leaders to continue working with Cobblestone Hotels representatives on potential other sites in the city’s downtown.

The Sturgeon Bay Common Council will also look at recommendations to approve a Planned Unit Development for a parcel near 15th Drive and to defederalize funds between the Door County Economic Development Corporation and the city when it meets on Tuesday at 6 p.m.