New Land Plans New S. 5th St. Building

Finding continued success with leasing in Walker’s Point, New Land Enterprises is pursuing its fourth apartment building in the southside neighborhood.

The firm filed plans with the Board of Zoning Appeals to construct a six-story, 86-unit apartment building at 1000-1010 S. 5th St. It would be directly across the street from the recently-completed Element apartment building and two blocks west of Quartet, a building New Land completed in 2020 and has now sold.

The filing indicates it would be a $13 million investment and include 1,876 square feet of first-floor commercial space. Seventy-nine indoor parking spaces would be split between the first and second levels.

Korb + Associates Architects is designing the new building, and based on renderings it would look similar to the Quartet and Element buildings it also designed. Both of the buildings were fully leased within two months of opening.

The model is targeted at reaching what New Land managing director Tim Gokhman described in 2021 as an “aggressive price point” for new construction without a government subsidy. He said there is a large market for people with incomes that disqualify them for buildings subsidized by low-income housing tax credits, but still can’t afford high-end new buildings. Developers have struggled to service that market segment due to a variety of factors including construction and land costs, zoning regulations and financing.

New Land would purchase and raze the building at the site, last used by American Metalcast Technologies. Its zoning variance request lists the property as vacant. The oldest portion of the complex, a two-story Italianate structure, was built in 1872, according to a Wisconsin Historical Society report.

New Land would also purchase and demolish a small garage at 417 W. Mineral St. Both properties are owned by the Zbigniew Kulig Revocable Trust and assessed for a combined $334,800. The resulting, L-shaped site would be 22,090 square feet.

The proposal needs a zoning variance because it exceeds the allowable number of units on the site (27), is taller than allowed (69.66 feet versus a limit of 60) and does not meet the minimum glazing requirement for its primary facade (5th Street, 60% required, 40% proposed) but does exceed the minimum for the secondary facade (Mineral Street, 15%, 40%).

The new building would be another new development on S. 5th St. The city, in 2017, narrowed the roadway and expanded the sidewalks. “The remake of 5th Street, honestly, that should be the recipe,” said Gokhman in 2021 of future street projects. For more on the changes, see our coverage from 2018.

New Land sold Quartet to an affiliate of California-based Hilbert Properties in 2021. State real estate records indicate the firm paid $11.95 million for the six-story, 48-unit building. New Land maintains ownership of Trio, its first Walker’s Point complex, and Element.

Gokhman did not respond to a request for comment on the latest project by the time of publication.

The new building is far from the only New Land project currently underway. In the East Town neighborhood, it’s finishing construction on Ascent, the tallest mass-timber building in the world, in the East Town neighborhood, and building Nova, a 251-unit apartment building for the L-shaped site at 1237 N. Van Buren St.

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Renderings