I'm looking at purchasing and retrofitting an old school building (likely in WI - I'm currently evaluating two properties) and would love to connect with folks who have experience, insights, or just enthusiasm for this kind of project. The primary candidate is in Clintonville, WI - a small town of about 5,000 people - and I'm framing it like an earthship for 12 people, but with more pragmatic systems integration.

The building includes both historic and 1981-era construction, with mostly flat rubber roofs. Current average monthly utility bills are:

• Gas: $2,139

• Electric: $880

My initial plan includes:

• 96 solar thermal panels (targeting domestic hot water + space heat pre-warming)

• 8.5kW solar electric system
  Combined, this should cover ~15% of total energy needs (happy to share my calculations).

To go further, I’m exploring combined heat and power (CHP) with a 50–100kW generator, ideally running on biogas. That’s where I’d love help - anyone have experience with small-scale biodigesters, especially cold-climate units or waste integration (e.g., food scraps, greywater preprocessing, animal waste)?

The vision includes:

• 12 private rooms with shared amenities for co-housing (flexible short/long-term residency)

• A business incubator, coworking area, and a retail consignment/flea market space

• A "third space" lounge (dry bar/hangout zone for community events, music, art, etc.)

• Event hosting to supplement income
  This is where most of the revenue comes from, along with potential shared services like IT, shipping, or licensed kitchen access.

Financially, I need about $144k in equity to access the loan stack needed to purchase and begin retrofitting. I can personally contribute about $20k. 

My working model:
If I can find 12 people able to contribute $12k each, that funds year-one housing for them and helps secure the building. After year one, the building's operations should become self-sustaining.

My questions for this forum:

1. Are my energy reduction and generation targets reasonable given the building type and scale?

2. Anyone here have hands-on experience with biodigestion, CHP, or similar whole-building retrofits?

3. Does this seem viable in a rural town of 5,000, or should I be considering a different scale or model?

4. Are there state or federal green retrofit grants you’d recommend exploring?

I’m also open to forming a team or finding aligned collaborators - builders, engineers, off-grid tinkerers, funders, architects, or permaculture folks welcome. If this resonates, I'd love to hear from you.