Downtown Office Tower Becoming Apartments
More residential development downtown. Wells Fargo will remain on first floor.
735 W. Wisconsin Ave. Photo by Jeramey Jannene.
Following a recent trend, an underutilized Westown office building is becoming apartments. Rosement, IL based developer 3L Real Estate is converting the 12-story building at 735 W. Wisconsin Ave. into 144 apartments.
In a May announcement, the Illinois company’s CEO Joe Slezak said “735 West’s proximity to the university, the lakefront, retail and restaurants render it perfect for conversion to residential use. At the same time, we are confident that the building will benefit the surrounding neighborhood.” The building is just east of Marquette University‘s campus.
Units are a mix of one-bedroom and studio apartments with rents starting at $900. The project website touts 17 unique floor plans.
Building amenities will include “bike storage, free internet, condo‐style apartment finishes, a fitness center and more,” according to 3L.
City records indicate the 111,000 square-foot building was originally built in 1968. 3L acquired the property from Zilber Ltd. for $4.65 million.
A permit on file with the city lists the cost of construction at $5.5 million. The permit lists United Insulated Structures Corp. as the project’s general contractor.
The project is scheduled for completion in summer 2018.
Construction Photos
Pre-Conversion Photos
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I’m looking forward to this. I know some people hate these Brutalist-style concrete buildings, but this one has a nice (and even roughly elegant) form and I think in 20-30 years we’ll be glad it wasn’t demolished. I do hope that they have a plan for the strange little sunken plaza in front though.
I’d even consider moving to a building like this, except that there’s not an adequate grocery store in walking distance. Yet.
The article failed to mention the building was formerly the site of Milwaukeeworld.com’s international headquarters. Hopefully the new owners will keep the bronze plaque identifying the location as the site Bruce Murphy single handedly brought down Milwaukee County government after publishing his infamous article on the county pension scandal.
Walked by this building on W. Wisconsin Ave. within the last 2 weeks. The accumulated leaf and trash debris in drifts alongside the building made me wonder if the bank had vacated!
Gary:
I also walked by there a lot on my way to the public library. It was always very quite and never seen people going in or out of the bank. It makes sense since banking now is mostly online.