County Seeks Contractors for New Human Services Building

Conceptual rendering of new Department of Health and Human Services building. Rendering by Engberg Anderson Architects.

Milwaukee County is looking for contractors to build its new $42 million human services building in the King Park neighborhood.

The new building would house the county’s Department of Health and Human Services (DHHS), as well as Friedens Food Pantries, replacing the Marcia P. Coggs Human Services Center at 1220 W. Vliet St. Plans call for a four-story, 60,000-square-foot building to be constructed on the northern end of the Coggs site, at 1230 W. Cherry St. between N. 12th St. and N. 13th St.

The project includes approximately $32 million in federal pandemic funding from the American Rescue Plan Act, which must be allocated by 2024 and spent down by 2026. Construction on the new building is expected to begin in 2024 and be open for use by 2025.

The current plans and designs for the new building would require the county to demolish the Coggs building to create space for parking. The county anticipates it will need approximately 250 parking spaces for the new facility.

The county also recently released an open call in February asking developers for ideas on how the Coggs building could be redeveloped in a manner that also met the new project’s parking needs. This request for ideas did not preclude options that would demolish the Coggs building in order to build something new on the site. The development site includes the L-shaped 2.26-acre Coggs parcel and another 0.78-acre adjacent parcel.

In any case, county officials have committed to keeping the Coggs name for the county’s new human services building.

County officials have maintained that it is important for DHHS to stay in the King Park neighborhood, as opposed to a downtown office building, in order to stay closer to the Milwaukee residents they serve the most.

The quest for a new human services building began with a review of the Coggs building produced by the county’s facilities management team in 2021. The report concluded that the county should sell the Coggs building, as it was becoming a financial liability for the county with millions in needed maintenance and the likely vacancy of its largest tenant: the state welfare office, which has since moved to a former warehouse on the city’s Northwest Side at 6055 N. 64th St.

“We’ve never had a building that was designed to deliver health and human services,” Shakita LaGrant-McClain, director of DHHS, previously said. “This was a department store… And just yesterday, I had to help an older adult out of the back hallway.”

The Coggs building is more than 100 years old, having been built between 1910 and 1923. It served as a Schuster Department store until 1961, when it was purchased by the county for its Department of Welfare.

The new human services building also represents another major investment in the area for the county. The others include the Mental Health Emergency Center nearby at 1525 N. 12th street; a $6.5 million affordable housing project that is expected to build approximately 120 new homes; and a $3 million investment in the Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. Community Center, 1531 W. Vliet St.

A copy of the bid notice is available on Urban Milwaukee.

UPDATE: An earlier version of this article said the county was looking for a developer, it is looking for contractors.