Mount Mary, Partners Celebrate Opening Trinity Woods Complex

A new housing complex on the Mount Mary University campus has a little of everything, and that’s exactly how the project partners planned it.

Known as Trinity Woods, the complex provides housing for the sisters of the School Sisters of Notre Dame, including assisted living units, as well as housing for single mothers attending the university and their children. An early childhood education center, operated by Wauwatosa, is available to residents, staff and the community. Shared dining, lounge, fitness and gathering spaces encourage the building’s residents, who could vary in age by nearly 100 years, to mingle.

Its name is a reference to the adjacent, 10-acre woods, the Catholic faith’s holy trinity, and the project’s three partners – Mount Mary, the School Sisters of Notre Dame and Milwaukee Catholic Home.

The $45 million development opened to its first residents in January, but a grand opening celebration was held this week.

A three-story “town center” building connects the different wings. The building has 90 independent living units for the sisters or others ages 55 or older, 52 assisted living units that are primarily targeted at the sisters and 24 two-bedroom student housing units. To access the year-round student housing, an individual must be a single mother with children under 12.

Restaurant-style dining is provided alongside a library, spa and salon, fitness center, large chapel, small theater, outdoor deck and on-site early childhood care center. Underground parking is included in the building, as well as a series of surface lots for guests. A communal space with television and kitchen is included on each student housing floor.

Senior Housing Partners, based in Roseville, Minn., served as the developer for the partners. Milwaukee-based Plunkett Raysich Architects led the design and VJS Construction Services led the general contracting.

As part of the development, the School Sisters are vacating their long-time home in Elm Grove. Artifacts from that complex have been incorporated into the new development. The organization is selling the property to the Mandel Group for redevelopment.

The complex is located on the north side of the university’s 80-acre campus, located at the southwest corner of N. 92nd St. and W. Burleigh St. The new building’s address is 9525 W. Burleigh St.

The university was founded as a ministry of the School Sisters in 1913 and moved to its 80-acre home in Milwaukee in 1929.

Milwaukee Metropolitan Sewerage District provided a $1.2 million stormwater management grant to the project, resulting in permeable pavement in the parking lot and a large pond on the building’s western side.

The project was announced in December 2019 and a groundbreaking ceremony for the project was held in September 2020.

A property website has more information on leasing and building amenities.

Photos

2019 Site Photos, Rendering and Site Plan