Join The Parade of Garden Homes

2614 W. Port Sunlight Way. Photo by Jeramey Jannene.

You’ll be able to get an up-close look at a historic housing development, and possibly find your next home, during the Parade of Homes in Garden Homes tour scheduled for Saturday, Oct. 14.

During the tour, the nonprofit 30th Street Industrial Corridor Corporation (The Corridor) and other project partners will show off the recently renovated homes.

Garden Homes was the country’s first municipally-sponsored housing cooperative when it opened in the 1920s. Ninety-three homes were built around a central greenspace and served World War I veterans and other middle-class families that found employment at the many industrial employers in the nearby 30th Street Corridor.

But the neighborhoods middle-class base was devasted by deindustrialization. The Great Recession brought with it a wave of foreclosures and abandoned properties.

“After seven long years of hard work and dedication, these homes will all be completed by the end of 2023,” says a statement from The Corridor announcing the event.

The houses will be set aside for qualifying lower-income households through the state-administrated low-income housing tax credit program, which is the primary financing source for the renovation project.

Since 2016, The Corridor has worked with neighbors to craft a vision for revitalizing the neighborhood. A plan was formalized in 2018. That same year, a group of pastors planned to revitalize many of the dilapidated city-owned homes in the area, but that project never moved forward. Come 2020, The Corridor secured low-income housing tax credits to serve as the primary financing source for a 30-unit redevelopment, one of several aspects of the plan. But like many other projects, rising costs during the COVID-19 pandemic caused delays with the projects.

“One of the challenges after developing the strategic plan was figuring out how to pull together the money for the Garden Homes project, because this truly wasn’t a deal that made a lot of sense considering only dollars and cents,” said The Corridor executive director Cheryl Blue in an announcement published by project lender IFF. “But when you considered the neighborhood, the history, the people, and the impact of a project like this, it was a deal that needed to get done.”

A partnership of The Corridor and affordable housing developer Cinnaire Solutions are leading the $8.4 million project that includes 18 properties and 24 total units. The tax credits require the units to be rented out for at least 15 years at below-market rates, targeted at 30% of gross income, for households making between 30-60% of the Milwaukee County median income. After the initial restriction period, tax credit regulations allow the properties to be sold to owner-occupants.

The open house event starts in Garden Homes Park, 2600 W. Atkinson Ave., and runs from 10:30 a.m. to noon. The houses are located just a few blocks north of W. Capitol Drive and just east of N. 27th Street and W. Atkinson Avenue.

Attendees are encouraged to call 414-509-5115 to RSVP.

Former mayor Emil Seidel, the city’s first socialist mayor, championed the project and later lived in one of the homes. Mayor Daniel Hoan also supported the project and was in office when it was built.

The original master architect, according to the Wisconsin Historical Society, was William H. Schuchardt. The architect patterned the development after England’s Garden City concept, designed to evoke a small village while using repeatable designs. There are nine different designs for the Colonial Revival houses.

Brinshore Development is serving as the general contractor on the renovation project. SchultzWerk Architecture is leading the design.

The latest project’s financing package includes support from community development financial institution IFF, a Strong Neighborhoods Challenge Fund grant from the city, federal HOME funds allocated by the city, a grant from the state’s American Rescue Plan Act and a grant from the Federal Home Loan Bank of Chicago.

August 2023 Photos

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