Brownfield Grant Will Help Get Walker’s Point Apartments Started

New Land’s proposal for 1000-1010 S. 5th St. Rendering by Korb + Associates Architects.

New Land Enterprises is moving towards an early 2024 groundbreaking for its proposed six-story Via apartment building at S. 5th Street and W. Mineral Street in Walker’s Point.

The Wisconsin Economic Development Corporation (WEDC) will provide the company with a $150,000 grant to support an environmental assessment of the site, long used for industrial purposes. The City of Milwaukee, as required by the state program, is serving as the applicant and a pass-through entity.

On Thursday, the Redevelopment Authority of the City of Milwaukee unanimously endorsed the proposal.

“There are a number of different sources of potential contamination that have been identified at the site,” said RACM senior environmental project coordinator Mat Reimer. In addition to industrial uses, a portion of the site was used as a filling station.

New Land would be required to provide a 20% match to access the grant, and would need to cover the cost of any environmental cleanup.

The company intends to deconstruct the primary structure at the site, 1000-1010 S. 5th St., and demolish a small wood-framed garage, 417 W. Mineral St.

The main building was last used by American Metalcast Technologies. The oldest portion of the complex, a two-story Italianate structure, was built in 1872, according to a Wisconsin Historical Society report. In January, an affiliate of the company purchased the development site for $425,000. Deconstruction will seek to recycle or reuse as many of the elements of the structure as possible.

The proposed 87-unit building is effectively a clone of two that New Land recently built nearby and is a reflection of the developer’s success leasing the properties. The first building, Quartet, was completed in 2020 and fully leased within a couple of months. The second building, Element, was fully leased as soon as it opened in spring 2022.

New Land secured a zoning variance for its latest project in October 2022 and is now moving to complete the financing package.

“We have been working through a number of financial implications with this grant and potentially others,” said Joey Wisniewski, senior development coordinator with New Land. Deconstruction would need to be completed before construction could start. “From ground up we would love to see this start in the middle of quarter one next year.”

RACM board chair Frances Hardrick said photos of the site showed “a nice utility pole in a place that’s probably not ideal.”

“That’s another hefty financial lift, but we are working through that right now,” said Wisniewski.

The building would include 102 parking spaces.

Another Similar Development In The Works

New Land isn’t working to develop just Via in Walker’s Point.

The company is also working to develop a 65-unit apartment building at the southeast corner of S. 4th Street and W. Florida Street, a site that currently includes a parking lot and two houses. The new complex, which would be New Land’s fifth in the neighborhood, would rise six stories and include a mix of market-rate, one-bedroom and two-bedroom apartments. It follows a design pattern with which the firm has found substantial success leasing units.

Starting with Quartet, the firm has worked with Korb + Associates Architects and Catalyst Construction on developing the Walker’s Point buildings. It sold Quartet in 2021 for $11.95 million to California-based Hilbert Properties.

The company is also pursuing a 24-story tower on N. Farwell Avenue on the East Side. Zoning approval was recently granted for a revised design. Construction of Nova, a nine-story, 251-unit building, is nearly complete.

The city has previously supported the environmental assessment grant program for a new Milwaukee Public Museum, the Martin Luther King Jr. Library redevelopment and the 27th and Wisconsin development site. The $150,000 grant is the largest supported by the program.

Photos

June Renderings

May 2022 Photos of Element