City Evacuates 27th Street Building Over Safety Concerns

The rear of SoHi Lofts, 2632 W. Wells St. Photo by Jeramey Jannene.

Residents of a Near West Side apartment building find themselves looking for temporary housing or a new place to live following an unusual situation.

Rear external stairs collapsed on the SoHi Lofts creating a fire-safety risk at the 16-unit building, 2632 W. Wells St. The Department of Neighborhood Services (DNS), responding to a resident complaint, issued an emergency order on Sept. 1 and on Sept. 5 required all residents to leave by the next day.

The issue, according to all involved in a Tuesday meeting of the Zoning, Neighborhoods & Development Committee, starts with the early 2000s idea to install an outdoor elevator as part the failed redevelopment of the four-story building.

“They chose to build an outdoor elevator without using outdoor components, so it never worked,” said area Alderman Robert Bauman. “It looks like the ultimate Rube Goldberg operation.”

The building’s elevator stands in a silo, connected by bridges to the rear each of the three upper floors of the building which are lined with outdoor walkways and stairs. But the elevator hasn’t functioned for years, and now a portion of the stairs, which were known to be in poor condition, have collapsed. There is only one way out from the upper floors.

The now-defunct West End Development Corporation attempted to redevelop the 1916 building into mixed-income condominiums starting in 2001, but the project took the organization down with it during the Great Recession. The city contributed $940,000 in federal HOME funds to that effort. In 2012, a partnership of Brinshore Development and Melissa Allen ultimately completed the redevelopment, but as a low-income tax credit development as part of a multi-site affordable housing project. The city invested another $440,000 in the latter project through its recession-inspired Neighborhood Stabilization Program.

“What if any follow up did we do?” asked Bauman.

“Our supervision was mostly on a compliance end,” said Department of City Development affordable housing specialist Maria Prioletta. She said the situation is a first for the city, given that such projects often involve other partners monitoring the condition of the property.

DNS officials said they first knew of the failing condition of the stairs in 2021, but the buildings owners had made repairs and added substantial bracing to the rear exterior structure.

“We didn’t believe it was going to give way,” said Jumaane Cheatham, commercial building code enforcement manager. He said department officials have made between 20 to 30 visits to the property since then.

“This is a real black eye for us. Nothing like this has ever happened to us,” said Chicago-based Brinshore co-founder Richard Sciortino. “We are embarrassed by this.”

Sciortino said repairs, which include replacing the entire exterior porch structure, would cost $1.1 to $1.3 million on a development that was only $8 million. And then there’s the elevator.

“That was a terrible idea,” said the developer of the elevator he didn’t build.

Community Development Grants Administration director Steve Mahan confirmed Bauman’s allegation that the elevator only worked for a brief period of time. He estimated a year and a half before it started to rust. “It’s just bad design,” said Mahan.

The building was constructed without an elevator, but Scriortino said the building code now requires one to exist since once was installed. “That’s another $500,000 to $600,000 additional cost.”

Cheatham said there is a process to obtain a variance to drop the elevator, which Sciortino said was news to him.

“Is anybody ever going to tell him about that?” asked Bauman of the city officials.

They have now. But the development team is still looking for the money to make the repairs. BMO Harris Bank holds the first mortgage on the property.

Sciortino said Brinshore approached LISC Milwaukee, which previously held the mortgage from the failed redevelopment, three months ago.

“I said to them ‘I helped you solve your problem 10 years ago, now I need you to help us,'” he said.

“That seems to be a persuasive argument,” said Bauman, who repeatedly noted the involvement of Theodore Lipscomb, Sr. He was the development director with West End, then became county board chair and now leads LISC Milwaukee.

Planning for reconstruction work is underway said Sciortino, but he estimated it would take two months. A permit request has been filed.

Where Are The Residents?

“Temporarily, everyone is taken care of,” said Sciortino of those that lived in the building.

Cheatham praised property manager Leasing Management for assisting with the relocations and securing the property.

“We have refunded their September rent,” said Sciortino. They’ve also reportedly stopped charging residents and are paying for hotel stays. He said the company was exploring relocating residents to other Brinshore properties.

DNS officials said residents can enter the building temporarily to access their possessions using the front stairs.

Resolving the elevator issue will solve another issue for Brinshore and the city. Four of the 16 households have successfully opted into a city-administered rent withholding program for code violations involving the elevator’s failure.

“That’s incredibly rare,” said Bauman of renters making it to the program.

“Those are the only violations we have been issued that we have not corrected,” said Sciortino.

Committee chair Ald. Michael Murphy thanked DNS for its involvement. “You did the right thing,” he said. Well, other than one aspect he noted. “Communication, you did forget the alderman because we have responsibility to our constituents.”

“My colleagues do not like learning about these activities on the evening news,” said Bauman, detailing how he learned about the situation, which is just a few blocks from his own house.

Bauman also called for more city scrutiny before giving money to nonprofits like West End in the future.

“We fall for it, we put the resources in and then they fail,” he said. “Here we are, 20 years later, picking up the pieces, all because the first step was a wrong step.”

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