A rather large property sale closed Monday, June 13 as Russ Darrow purchased nearly 11 acres on West Washington Street just east of Valley Avenue in West Bend.
The highly-coveted parcel belonged to Steve Kearns. “The land is located behind the Madden Law Firm, in front of Aurora, behind the future Pizza Ranch and that garage is part of it too,” said Kearns.
Kearns has owned the parcel since 2005. He recently purchased the adjacent Audrey and Dave Bohn property. “I bought the Bohn land and made a package deal and sold it to Russ Darrow,” Kearns said.
In May Kearns and the Bohns went before the Plan Commission to request a zoning change for about 11.2 acres located east of Valley Avenue on the south side of W. Washington Street.
The property was zoned B-3 Neighborhood Business, B-6 Office Park, RM-4 Multi-Family Residential, and temporary Districts to B-4 General Business & Warehousing District.
Kearns said at that time he was already in conversations with Russ Darrow.
“Russ and I get along very, very good,” he said. “The first part of it was a handshake deal and after that it just went excellent.”
Darrow said he has plans for the property but at this point he can’t disclose what franchises he’s looking at.
Darrow was 25 years old when he got his start in the car business in 1965. “This is my hometown and I bought the property because I’m optimistic I can put one or two new franchises in this location,” he said. “We’re growing and West Bend is growing and clearly West Bend is poised to be a huge car market and the purchase is part of our pro-active plan.”
Within the past two months Darrow also expanded in Sheboygan, adding a Nissan and Volkswagen dealership.
As far as noticeable development Darrow did not expect neighbors would see any major movement on the property in the near future. “Being a franchisee, this will take a little longer than a couple months to turn around,” he said. “But definitely we have a prime spot and this is a major auto row.”
Darrow and Kearns have worked together in the past. About five years ago Kearns pulled his Kearns Motor Cars dealership out of the northwest corner lot on Highway 33 and Villa Park Drive. He currently leases that site to Darrow.
In 2014 Darrow bought the White House of Music property to the west of the dealership so he could expand his lot.
Questioned whether he’d try to go after the corner parcel on Valley Avenue and Highway 33 where the Madden Vanderloop Law Firm is located, Darrow wasn’t pushy. He said there may be a discussion in the future.
“We just closed on this deal and if he (Patrick Madden) has an interest then fine but if not we’ll grow around him,” said Darrow.
Neither Kearns nor Darrow would disclose the terms or final dollar amount of the deal. Both indicated the sale would eventually become public record.
Kearns said, “When you hear the prices it’s probably the most expensive land in the city of West Bend.”
Darrow said he felt he “got a good deal.”
“The point is we’re excited about the community and we love the area,” said Darrow.