Nov. 27, 2018 – Germantown, WI – Staff, volunteers and members of the board of directors of Habitat for Humanity Washington/Dodge Counties gave thanks Tuesday morning, Nov. 27 for the many gifts and support to make its new store happen in Germantown.
Habitat Executive Director Russ Wanta offered praise for help on the closing on the purchase of the store. “We had a very generous man from the Minneapolis area who generously donated the down payment so we could ultimately make this our Germantown ReStore,” said Wanta.
Habitat for Humanity purchased the former Gander Mountain building, W190 N10768 Commerce Circle in Germantown.
“I truly believe that it was simply by the Lord Almighty that this thing came about,” said Wanta. “This will be similar to Goodwill with a drive thru and if you really want to know what a God thing this is – Germantown Iron and Steel and I met structural Roger Enters who volunteered to engineer and then Keller Inc. out of Germantown called and they agreed to build another section on the back of the building and do it pro bono.”
“In a very, very short amount of time the pieces came together for our drive thru,” said Wanta. “And that really is how the Lord works. You lift up something in prayer and you can hear from Him.”
Pastor Mike Moran from Kettlebrook Church in West Bend offered a prayer of thanks.
“Jesus identifies with the downtrodden,” said Moran. “He identifies with people in need and that’s our calling as well.”
The new Habitat ReStore is hoping to open Jan. 2, 2019 in Germantown.
It was March 2017 when Gander Mountain Company announced it filed Chapter 11 bankruptcy and the store in Germantown would be one of four in southeastern Wisconsin to close by May 2017. Habitat for Humanity currently owns about 7,000-square feet within a stone’s throw of the building on Commerce Circle. That ReStore is located at W188 N10707 Maple Road in Germantown.
The old Gander Mountain building had been initially listed for $3.9 million. Wanta said he worked on negotiating the sale directly with building owner Bill Lloyd.
“We worked on the deal a long time and settled on a price of $1.8 million,” said Wanta.
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