Plan Commission Okays Huge Housing Development

Cudahy Farms Healthy Living Campus. Rendering by Engberg Anderson Architects.

Royal Capital Group‘s proposal to redevelop a 51.4-acre YMCA property on the city’s far Northwest Side into a 1,145-unit housing development took a key step forward Monday, but not before Alderwoman Larresa Taylor asked the City Plan Commission to slow things down.

The three-phase project would create the “Cudahy Farms Healthy Living Campus” on a largely undeveloped site northeast of the intersection of N. 91st Street and W. Brown Deer Road. Royal Capital intends to use low-income housing tax credits to finance much of the first phase, while adding owner-occupied townhomes in its second phase.

The first phase includes 15 new buildings with 377 housing units, 224 of which would be two-bedroom or three-bedroom apartments and 153 seniors-only, one-bedroom units. The tax credits set aside units at below-market rates for households with incomes that do not exceed set thresholds. Royal Capital executive vice president Terrell J. Walter estimated rental rates would range from $500 to $1,600 depending on household size and income level.

Walter, speaking to the plan commission Monday afternoon, said the firm would keep the 30,000-square-foot YMCA building and the all-abilities baseball diamond. The YMCA building would be repurposed as a childcare center and resident amenity building. An all-abilities baseball league, the Miracle League, would continue to use the field.

“We want to be very intentional with how we program the site,” he said. Plans call for maintaining fencing around the property, but Royal Capital said it would let members of the public use portions of the development in a “controlled manner.” He said the site would be staffed 24 hours a day.

The alderwoman held a community meeting last week on the proposal, first publicly introduced in 2022.

“There were lots of questions asked,” Taylor told the plan commission. “I think at this point, because of those concerns, that we need to slow down and make sure those concerns are being addressed before moving forward.”

She said residents had concerns with the perceived large size of the development, its environmental impact, parking and people hopping a fence or accessing the site via a pedestrian access point. The alderwoman suggested moving the pedestrian access to the northern border, W. Ferry Chasm Drive., and away from what she said is a Milwaukee Police Department-identified “hot spot” where police frequently respond to calls for service.

“I think that what they have is a really good plan for adding value to the community, however, as a representative of the community I have to reflect what those concerns are and we have to have those concerns addressed before moving forward,” she said.

Royal Capital president Kevin Newell was quick to push back against a delay, and said his firm has invested “millions” since 2020.

“I think it’s incredibly disheartening today to hear the alderwoman speak for the minority crowd,” said Newell regarding the size of the opposition. “I want to put on the record that this is a really a challenge for us as it impacts the overall development and its life.”

The Granville Advisory Committee endorsed the project in June 2022, but Royal Capital representatives said they paused their efforts to seek zoning approval that July after Alderwoman Chantia Lewis was removed from office. Taylor was elected in April.

“As we continue to delay this thing it continues to present challenges on the financing side,” said the developer. “This is my unfiltered, somewhat emotional response.”

Area resident Nicole Hartley, who lives between the YMCA site and the former Northridge Mall to the east, also spoke against the project. “It’s too many people,” she said. “Thinking about a three-story building in that area. It just doesn’t work.” She said it would interrupt a chain of green spaces that stretches to Mequon.

Urban planner Robin Palm, speaking as a citizen, said he supports the project. “The overall density for this project is 22 units per acre, which is below the median density for the city,” he said. “It seems completely appropriate for the location. The infrastructure that Milwaukee continues to pay for is out there.”

Most of the first phase would be developed at the southwest corner of the site, along N. Swan Road (N. 91st St.).

The primary building design by Engberg Anderson Architects calls for two-story “stacked flats” with 22 units. The rows of buildings would have an alternating pattern of surface parking on one side and a grassy, pedestrian-only area on the other. Walter said it allows residents to effectively have their own front yard, with direct access from their apartment. The senior housing would be in three-story, 50-unit buildings.

“We have three different color schemes for the buildings. They will not all look the same. They will be staggered,” said project architectural designer Tess Lacey.

Walking trails would ring the site. An amphitheater would be rehabilitated next to the YMCA building, for use as a sledding hill in the winter and events in the summer. A golf simulator, pickleball courts and a rehabilitation of the existing pool are also planned.

The 580-unit third phase would be all senior housing spread across five buildings. But the current zoning approval is only for the general concept and the details of the first phase.

Department of City Development (DCD) planning manager Sam Leichtling said his department is endorsing the zoning change, in part because of the plans for owner-occupied housing. Newell, in 2022, said tax incremental financing (TIF) would be necessary to advance the development. Use of TIF support has become common in Milwaukee for affordable housing developments.

After asking several questions, the commissioners sided with DCD instead of Taylor and approved the project, sending it to the Common Council. Commissioner Allyson Nemec, an architect, was the lone dissenting vote. She asked several questions about the design, landscaping plan and project layout before the vote.

The Common Council’s Zoning, Neighborhoods & Development Committee will next review the zoning change. Council members, based on an informal system known as “aldermanic privilege,” often defer to the desires of the local council member, but have in the past overruled the local council member on matters of land use.

The development is known as Cudahy Farms because it was donated to the YMCA in 1999 by philanthropist Michael Cudahy, who once lived in the area. An affiliate of Royal Capital acquired the property, 9050 N. Swan Rd., for $1.5 million in May 2021. Walter said the firm secured approval from the Cudahy family, which holds a deed restriction, to redevelop the site.

Royal Capital is involved in several other Milwaukee projects, including the ThriveOn King development and Phillis Wheatley School redevelopment.

Renderings and Site Plan

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Related Legislation: File 220402