Sixteenth Street Health Centers Adding a Pharmacy

Sixteenth Street Community Health Centers, 1032 S. Cesar E. Chavez Dr. Photo by Jeramey Jannene.

Sixteenth Street Community Health Centers (SSCHC) is adding a pharmacy to its clinic and headquarters at 1032 S. Cesar E. Chavez Dr. as part of an $8 million project.

“This pharmacy is critically important for the South Side of Milwaukee,” said Dr. Julie Schuller, president and CEO of SSCHC, in a press release. “It will make things much more convenient and affordable for patients to get all of their health care needs addressed in one place.”

The nonprofit health center operates a network of seven clinics on the city’s South Side and one in Waukesha. It seeks to provide care “free from linguistic, cultural and economic barriers.”

The pharmacy will be built on the site of a two-story commercial building at 1016-1018 S. Cesar E. Chavez Dr. SSCHC acquired the property for $200,000 in 2022 from El Rey Enterprises and will demolish the structure. The building was constructed in 1923 according to assessment records and, with the buildings to its north, won a 2018 Mayor’s Design Award for facade improvements.

In recent years the current building at the site has been occupied by a Mexico-focused travel agency and serves as a stop for the Tornado Bus Company.

The  site is immediately north of the patio outside the headquarters.

Designs for the new structure were not immediately available. According to a preliminary building permit request, Groth Design Group is serving as the project architect.

A total of $2 million of the project’s costs will be covered by a state grant from its American Rescue Plan Act funds. Governor Tony Evers announced the grant award last March. Congresswoman Gwen Moore also helped secure an additional $1.25 million grant for the project.

“To be able to bring a pharmacy to our community here on the South Side is really a dream come true,” said Schuller. “This has been in the works for a long time and to see it come to fruition is very exciting for us, as well as our patients.”

The nonprofit has expanded its presence in the neighborhood in recent years, including adding a non-emergency mental health clinic in 2021 at 1635 W. National Ave. and opening a clinic inside of South Division High School last year. It operates clinics in several other schools.

A certified survey map request to merge the headquarters property and pharmacy property into a single property is pending before the Common Council. The perfunctory approval would allow a new building to be built across the current property line.

The only other pharmacy within SSCHC’s network is an Advocate Aurora Health-operated pharmacy within SSCHC’s Parkway Clinic at 2906 S. 20th St. SSCHC will directly operate the new pharmacy.