New Homes Take Shape in Urban Subdivisions

While this week’s installment of Friday Photos again focuses on new single-family homes, it’s a very different story than last week’s profile of new high-end housing in the North Point Historic District.

This week’s homes are urban in form, but visually appear to be rising in a greenfield subdivision.

That’s not what’s happening though. This week’s homes, three in Josey Heights and one in Walnut Circle, are rising on near west side city blocks that were the victim of misguided urban renewal efforts.

The houses, with an estimated cost of $250,000 to $280,000 each, represent a restart of two stalled subdivisions.

The subdivisions, located on multi-block lots at N. 12th St. and W. Lloyd St. (Josey Heights) and N. 20th St. and W. Walnut St. (Walnut Circle), were created in the mid-2000s as part of an attempt to create new, market-rate housing. But after private developers secured a few initial buyers, the Great Recession destroyed the market.

Now a partnership between the City of Milwaukee and Emem Group is marketing the lots with new designs. A $30,000 grant, offered as a forgivable mortgage after seven years of owner occupancy, is being offered for up to 10 new owners. The funds come from city, Associated Bank and the Zilber Family Foundation.

Michael Emem‘s firm is designing and building the houses.

The 7.3-acre Josey Heights site was most recently a playfield for the Lloyd Street School, but before that was a series of urban blocks lined with houses. It was cleared for the never-built Park West Freeway. Today it contains the first “green street” in the city built from permeable pavers. The site is designed to contain one million gallons of stormwater annually.

Josey Heights is named for Jarius Anthony Josey, a newspaper publisher and advocate for housing and jobs for Milwaukee’s early African-American residents. Josey, named the “first mayor of black Milwaukee,” passed away in 1957. Four homes already stand completed in the subdivision.

The Walnut Circle site was previously occupied by a Sentry grocery store, and an urban neighborhood of single-family homes before that. It was cleared decades ago as part of a multi-block urban renewal effort that drastically altered the surrounding neighborhood. Three houses currently stand in the subdivision.

Construction got underway in December on the first new home at 2018 N. 14th St. (now 1335 W. Harmon St.) in Josey Heights. Two more are underway to the east at 1331 W. Harmon St. and 1337 W. Harmon St. A fourth house, the only new one in Walnut Circle, is under construction at 1626 N. 22nd St.

The two subdivisions, located on multi-block lots at N. 12th St. and W. Lloyd St. (Josey Heights) and N. 20th St. and W. Walnut St. (Walnut Circle), were created in the mid-2000s as part of an attempt to create new, market-rate housing. But after private developers secured a few initial buyers, things stalled out. The city ended up owning the remaining lots, 62 in total, but didn’t find many takers, even at $1 per lot.

Both sites include the necessary utility infrastructure, including water, sewer and electrical service lines.

Prospective homeowners in each area are eligible for the Wisconsin Housing and Economic Development Authority‘s Transform Advantage first-mortgage program. The program doesn’t require a down payment and accrues no interest with no monthly payments while the home is being constructed.

Photos

Home Designs and Subdivision Maps

Summer 2020 – Walnut Circle

Summer 2020 – Josey Heights