Wangard Development and Siepmann Realty have officially snapped up a roughly 120-acre slice of Oak Creek, moving a long-discussed mixed-use community called The Prairie into private hands. The site, tucked just west of the IKEA off South 27th Street, is slated for a mix of apartments, duplexes, quadplexes and single-family lots. The deal pulls together what had been a patchwork of parcels held by Northwestern Mutual, clearing one of the project’s biggest obstacles. City approvals for rezoning, land division and environmental reviews still stand between the land and any shovels in the ground.
Deal finalized
According to the Milwaukee Business Journal, the purchase price came in at $8.3 million, with the sale closing on Friday. The land has been transferred into OC27 LLC, a partnership between Wangard Development and Siepmann Realty Corp., as outlined in the developers’ filings with the city. City of Oak Creek documents list OC27 LLC as the official applicant for the project.
What The Prairie would include
Concept plans from the developers call for roughly 538 residential units, spread across multifamily buildings, quadplexes, duplexes and about 96 single-family lots. More than 17 acres are set aside for commercial use. That breakdown appears in the project summary submitted to city planners and reported by Finance & Commerce. Under the current vision, Wangard is expected to handle the multifamily portion while Siepmann focuses on for-sale homes, according to those same filings.
Where the land sits
City submissions describe the property as about 119.21 acres spread across 10 parcels at the northeast corner of South 27th Street and Drexel Avenue, with Milwaukee County’s Falk Park forming the eastern edge. Developers note that the land today includes farmland, remediated retail parcels and small woodlots, all of which would be tied together by new internal roads and open space. City of Oak Creek records show the applicants have requested comprehensive plan changes and rezoning to consolidate those pieces into a coherent site.
Timeline and approvals
When the concept was first rolled out in 2025, developers told officials they planned to submit land-use and land-division applications in the summer, with an eye toward starting initial construction phases that fall and welcoming first residents in spring 2027. Those earlier timelines were noted in prior local coverage of the project. Now that the sale has closed, the next formal steps are Plan Commission review, rezoning and Common Council approval before any site work can begin.
What to watch
For city staff and nearby residents, some of the big question marks will be traffic impacts on South 27th Street, stormwater and wetlands protections, buffers along Falk Park and how infrastructure costs are spread out over the multi-year buildout. The developers’ filings already outline proposed new connections to South Ikea Drive and a network of internal roads, which are expected to face detailed engineering and environmental review. As hearings move forward, residents can track staff reports and public notices through the city’s Plan Commission process and follow ongoing coverage from outlets such as the Daily Reporter.
