A ceremonial groundbreaking took place at the corner of Pleasant and Water streets today for the Portrait and Silhouette buildings at The North End, collectively known as Phase Two of The North End. A number of public officials were on hand representing the large number of public funding sources required to get the project off the ground (or more aptly, in the ground) with the state of private financing for development.

In August UW-Milwaukee will begin occupying Cambridge Commons, their new 700-bed residence hall. Owned by the UWM Real Estate Foundation and developed by the Mandel Group, the near-complete residence hall raises the bar for Milwaukee student housing when it comes to quality and ecological sustainability.

Both, New Land Enterprises’ apartment proposal and Mandel Group’s UWM dormitory proposal were approved without any debate on the floor and both are expect to break ground after winter.

Mandel Group’s efforts to construct a new UWM dormitory on the East Side took a step forward this week after receiving approval at both the City Plan Commission and the Zoning, Neighborhoods & Development Committee. This matter will be taken up by the full Common Council on December 16th, 2008 and if approved intends to break ground within 90 days.

Two significant East Side projects, New Land Enterprises’ Kenilworth apartment building and Mandel Group’s dormitory proposal, were on the agenda for this committee meeting.

First up was New Land Enterprises’ Kenilworth apartment building proposal. This proposal had been held at the previous committee meeting to allow for an “informational” meeting with the neighborhood. As the committee had indicated at the prior meeting they felt that overall this was a positive development for the city. It was approved and will now go before the full Common Council.

Bob Monnat, the chief operating officer of Mandel Group, gave a short presentation covering the history behind the development of this site. He explained that Mandel Group had originally planned to take advantage of the stunning views from the site and create a commercial use development. When UWM put out the RFP for a new dormitory Mandel Group responded after determining this could be a better fit for the site. Throughout the efforts the building was set back 50 feet and limited in its height. He explained that as the project evolved through working with the Milwaukee River Work Group and other community members that “we actually ended up with a better project.”

This was the last of four meetings held to discuss UWM’s most recent dorm proposal. Jim Shields, the project architect, presented his design for the building and how it fits on the 3.2 acre lot. He referred to the site as “an edge site”, indicating how it sits on the “edge” of two drastically different environments.

The Mandel Group’s efforts to construct a new UWM dormitory on the East Side have included five public meetings, the release of basic site plans, and preliminary project renderings. Jim Shields, lead architect on the project, has an accomplished and diverse resume of buildings from Discovery World to the renovation of Cathedral of St. John the Evangelist, and now he is putting his mark on another Milwaukee project.

Bob Monnat, the chief operating officer of Mandel Group, gave an overview of how the public meeting process will work and a presentation covering the environmental aspects of the project. He explained that the point of have these meetings take place within the recently built dorms, was so that residents could get a feel for the type of atmosphere and quality that is to be expected. Additionally he pointed out that in an effort to make this as open a process as possible the materials from each meeting will be posted on the Mandel Group website.

This meeting was appropriately held at the Urban Ecology Center. It was appropriate because one of the key opposition concerns around the Hometown site was its location along the Milwaukee River. Although the location was different many of the same citizens were attendance.