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Case study · Kenosha, Wisconsin · 2024–2026
In 2024, Petra of Wichita, Kansas, hired Gene Ventura to find land it could develop for its investors. Gene found 100 overlooked acres of urban infill in Kenosha. He put the partners and the lender together, and he had a national apartment developer at the table before the land closed. Mark Molinaro then carried the entitlements and the subdivision through to the developer’s closing. In September 2026, Continental Properties broke ground on 336 apartment homes.
Gene J. VenturaCapital & Development Advisor
The thesis
Gene and Mark have built in Kenosha since 2000. They know the city, its planners and its lenders, and they know where it is growing.
In 2024, Gene looked at about 100 acres west of Green Bay Road between 60th and 67th Streets and saw what Kenosha was about to need. It was a prime urban infill parcel between I-94 and Lake Michigan, beside the Highway 31 retail corridor and minutes from LakeView Corporate Park and UW–Parkside. Kenosha’s economy was booming, and the site was ready for housing.
Nobody was building on it. The seller, an affiliate of Chicago investment firm Speedwagon Properties, had held it for about a decade as surplus land that came with its Kenosha shopping centers, including the Lowe’s-anchored center on Green Bay Road. Gene sourced it, negotiated the purchase and built the team to develop it.
The Ventura + Molinaro playbook
The site
Mark subdivided the 100 acres to create a 20.84-acre development lot at the southwest corner of Green Bay Road and 60th Street. Continental Properties bought that lot and is building Authentix Black Hawk Ridge: 336 garden-style apartment homes in 14 two-story buildings, with a pool, fitness center and clubhouse.
The remaining 80 acres or so are owned by Black Hawk Partners, the partnership Gene formed for the client. That land is under contract for the final phase: single-family and multifamily homes, completing the vision Gene saw in 2024.
How it happened
2024
The engagement
Petra, a real estate developer, owner and operator based in Wichita, Kansas, engages Gene to find land it can develop for its investors.
2024
The site
Gene sources the 100-acre infill parcel and negotiates the purchase from the seller, an affiliate of Speedwagon Properties of Chicago.
2024
The partnership
Gene introduces Petra CEO Noah Swank to Scott McKibben, CEO of Matterhorn Venture Partners in Chicago. They form Black Hawk Partners, with Petra and Matterhorn as co-managers of the general partner. Gene encourages them to name the land Black Hawk Ridge.
2024
The lender
Gene and Mark bring in Tom Mahoney, Wintrust’s Kenosha market president and their relationship lender in Southeast Wisconsin since 2020, to finance the land.
July 2024
The buyer
While the land is still under contract, Gene brings Continental Properties to the table for about 20 acres. Continental’s letter of intent is signed at the land closing, so the client closes on 100 acres with a national apartment developer already committed.
2024–2026
The entitlements
From the July 2024 land closing to Continental’s closing, Mark leads the entitlements and the subdivision of the 20.84-acre parcel from the 100 acres, with full engineering, environmental work and infrastructure.
2026
The sale
Continental Properties, a National Multifamily Housing Council Top 25 developer, buys the lot and keeps the name: its new community is Authentix Black Hawk Ridge.
September 2026
The groundbreaking
Continental breaks ground on 336 studio to three-bedroom apartment homes. Pre-leasing is expected in summer 2027, with the clubhouse expected in September 2027.
Next
The final phase
Black Hawk Partners’ remaining land is under contract for the final phase of single-family and multifamily development.
The team Gene put together
Founder & CEO, Ventura Capital Ai
Saw the site, negotiated the purchase, brought Petra and Matterhorn together as partners, brought in Wintrust for the land loan, and had Continental’s letter of intent signed at the land closing. He also proposed the name Black Hawk Ridge.
Architect · Principal, Partners in Design Architects
Led the entitlements and the subdivision of the 20.84-acre lot, with full engineering, environmental work and infrastructure, from the land closing to Continental’s closing. With Gene, brought Wintrust to the deal.
The client
A real estate developer, owner and operator based in Wichita, Kansas, led by CEO Noah Swank. Co-manager of Black Hawk Partners.
growwithpetra.comThe co-GP Gene brought in
A Chicago commercial real estate investment firm led by CEO Scott McKibben. Co-manager of Black Hawk Partners with Petra.
matterhornvp.comThe land lender
Tom Mahoney, Wintrust’s Kenosha market president, has been Gene and Mark’s relationship lender in Southeast Wisconsin since 2020.
The buyer
A National Multifamily Housing Council Top 25 developer, owner and operator that has built more than 39,000 apartment homes in 20 states.
Continental’s announcementWhy the name
Ma-ka-tai-me-she-kia-kiakBlack Sparrow Hawk · Sauk leader · 1767–1838
Gene encouraged the partners to name the land after Black Hawk, the Sauk leader born at Saukenuk, near Rock Island on the Mississippi.
In 1832 Black Hawk led his people back across the Mississippi to their homeland. Pursued by militia and federal troops, his band crossed southern Wisconsin for more than two months, and the war ended in tragedy at the Bad Axe River. A year later he dictated his life story, one of the earliest Native American autobiographies published in the United States.
Across Wisconsin, Illinois and Iowa, Black Hawk is remembered for his courage and his loyalty to his people and their land. That strength and that commitment to place are what Gene wanted at the heart of this development. Continental kept the name.
What it shows
01
Overlooked infill in a market we have worked since 2000, found before it was on anyone’s list.
02
A national developer committed on the day the land closed, which protected the client’s investors from the start.
03
A Kenosha lender who has known us since 2020, and a partnership built to fit the client.
04
Subdivision, engineering, environmental work and infrastructure, carried by an architect the city knows.
05
We didn’t just recommend a strategy. We sourced, negotiated, financed, entitled and sold.
06
A name with strength and history in it, strong enough that the buyer built its brand around it.
For cities and planning staff
Gene and Mark have taken projects through entitlement in Kenosha and Pleasant Prairie since 2000. At Black Hawk Ridge, Mark led the subdivision, engineering, environmental work and infrastructure that turned one 100-acre parcel into a development lot a national apartment developer could close on. We bring that same preparation to every city we work with.
Sources
This case study describes the roles of Gene J. Ventura of Ventura Capital Ai and Mark A. Molinaro Jr. of Partners in Design Architects, as they describe them. Details of Authentix Black Hawk Ridge are from Continental Properties’ public announcement. Petra, Matterhorn Venture Partners, Wintrust, Speedwagon Properties and Continental Properties are independent companies; they are not affiliated with and do not endorse Ventura Capital Ai. Shown for historical purposes only and not an offer of any security. Past results are not indicative of future results.