Site Prep Work Underway For Park East Apartments

Pile driving at 1333-1339 N. Milwaukee St. Photo by Jeramey Jannene.

Initial site preparation work is underway for a new apartment building at the north end of Downtown.

A crew from Michels Corp., under the guidance of general contractor Stevens Construction, is driving piles into the side of a hill at the intersection of N. Broadway and E. Ogden Ave. The piles, driven deep into the ground for stability, will form the foundation of the future building.

Chicago-based LG Group is developing the 197-unit building, which would peak at seven stories tall. The heavy slope of the 1.3-acre site, which runs from N. Milwaukee St. down to N. Broadway, will hide a parking structure in the base of the building.

LG’s website says the building will feature an “outdoor pool, multiple amenity spaces, and a fitness center.” The pool will be located in an interior courtyard, wrapped by three attached structures. The website says 7,670 square feet of retail space is included in the proposal.

Stevens and project design firm Korb + Associates Architects began lining up permits in 2022, but ramped up their activity earlier this year according to Department of Neighborhood Services online records. A commercial new construction permit, the central project permit, has yet to be issued, but is being reviewed. A building code variance was requested earlier this month to address a fire code issue stemming from the hill’s impact on the building’s structure.

LG paid $5 million for the property, 1333-1339 N. Milwaukee St., in May 2022. An estimated job cost on one of the permit requests is listed at $46 million.

The L-shaped lot was occupied by a Gothic Revival style building for more than 100 years. That building, demolished in 2006 just after the freeway came down, was last occupied by the Milwaukee Center for Independence.

The property is located between Viets Field and the Convent Hill senior housing complex, both of which were constructed after the Gothic Revival building was demolished. To the south, the Milwaukee School of Engineering recently acquired an office building at 310 E. Knapp St. and will repurpose it for academic use.

LG is the fourth firm to attempt to develop the vacant lot since the Park East Freeway that once ran by it was demolished two decades ago.

Big Bend Development first proposed to develop The Terraces at River Bluff condominium complex at the site. It would have included two 13-story towers, an eight-story building and 10 townhomes. But like many early Park East proposals, it never moved forward.

In 2016, an affiliate of Roers Companies bought the site and planned an apartment building, The Skye Apartments, but financing for the development fell through. Korb was also the architect behind that proposal.

Chicago-based Ravine Park Partners proposed to develop an approximately 200-unit development on the site in 2019. The firm never purchased the property.

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Pre-Construction Photos