Three Buyers Seeking Former MPS School
Plus: SoHi Lofts reopens to residents and a recap of the week's real estate news.
Emanuel Philipp Elementary School. Photo by Jeramey Jannene.
Three buyers are in the running for a former Milwaukee Public Schools (MPS) elementary school near W. Capitol Drive and Interstate 43.
The Department of City Development is reviewing bids for the former Emanuel Philipp Elementary School, 4310 N. 16th St. The 1930s, Art Deco-inspired building is one of the more architecturally distinct MPS facilities with a penguin balustrade over its arched entrance and terracotta reliefs of fables and fairy tales throughout the facade.
MPS vacated the three-story building in 2007. The 2.6-acre property fills the middle of the block between W. Olive and W. Congress streets and is surrounded by homes built in the same era as the school. Rufus King High School is nearby and was completed at the same time.
It is not known whether the undisclosed prospective buyers, each of which responded to a request for proposals (RFP) by the Dec. 27 deadline, intend to use the 17-classroom building as a school or to redevelop the 39,625-square-foot building into housing or another use. The property, as state law requires, already went through a two-year period where it was available solely to other school users.
The latest RFP allowed for either school use or adaptive reuse. However one potential impediment to using it for a school is that the RFP requires any future buyer to pay property taxes or enter into a payment in lieu of taxes agreement. “Proposals will be evaluated on price, prospective use, impact on the business community and adjoining neighborhood, extent and quality of renovations, contribution to the tax base, and financial viability,” says the RFP in enumerating the evaluation criteria. A final recommendation will be forwarded to the full Common Council for approval. Alderwoman Andrea Pratt represents the area on the council and lives in the surrounding Rufus King neighborhood.
The RFP included a $634,000 asking price, the same price given in a 2017 third-party appraisal if the property were to be reused as a school. If redeveloped, the property is appraised at $495,000.
The original building was designed by Eschweiler & Eschweiler, as was a 1961 auditorium audition. The property was given local historic preservation protection in 1988, which requires a legislative approval process for any exterior modifications, but is not yet on the National Register of Historic Places, which would make it eligible for historic preservation tax credits.
Preservation tax credits have been successfully used in other school redevelopments, including Gorman & Co’s project a couple miles to the west to redevelop the former Edison Middle School, 5372 N. 37th St., into affordable housing. Construction is underway on that effort.
Who was Emanuel Philipp? A railroad executive for starters, but also a governor of Wisconsin. He served three two-year terms as governor, from 1915 to 1921, as a conservative Republican and was critical of the Progressive movement and railroad regulation. He worked for multiple railroads, eventually taking control of the Union Refrigerator Transit Co. and, in 1903, reorganizing it in Wisconsin. As company president, he publicly sparred with then-Governor Robert “Fightin’ Bob” La Follette in 1904 over an alleged kickback scheme between Philipp and major shippers like Pabst and Schlitz. The issue was covered by a handful of area newspapers and magazines, and resulted in a liberal suit against the publications and a public retraction in 1906.
The company’s Milwaukee operations were located three blocks from the school site, between N. Green Bay Avenue and N. Port Washington Road, and were developed during a period when the businesses were outside of the city limits. Philipp according to newspaper accounts, also owned the Mi Lola Cigar Co.
Philipp passed away in 1925 at the age of 61 and is interred at Forest Home Cemetery.
The refrigerated railcar company was originally created to serve the Joseph Schlitz Brewing Company, where Philipp worked for a period as transit manager. The company built wooden refrigerated railcars and leased them to railroads, like the Milwaukee Road. Philipp served on the board of the Milwaukee Road and the Second Ward Savings Bank and operated two large model farms.
If you’ve been stuck in traffic on Interstate 43 near W. Capitol Drive in the past two years, you’ve encountered Philipp’s legacy. The freeway is being reconstructed and a complicating logistical factor is the need to replace a lengthy bridge north of W. Capitol Drive that spans what was previously the Union Refrigerator railyard on the Milwaukee-Glendale border just a few blocks from the school. The railyard, located along what was the Milwaukee Road’s Beerline, is long gone and a large portion of the west side of the site could soon house The Ability Center with the Beerline Trail running alongside it. The trail is being extended northwest, towards the school, from Riverwest as part of the freeway project. A Home Depot hardware store, 4155 N. Port Washington Rd., covers much of the railyard site east of the freeway.
Union Refrigerator spent several decades as a subsidiary of the still-operating General American Transportation Corporation (today known as GATX) before its Milwaukee operations were closed.
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A Christmas Miracle For Displaced SoHi Lofts Residents
The displaced residents of a Near West Side apartment building got a welcome surprise in the week leading up to Christmas.
Residents of the 16-unit SoHi Lofts, 2632 W. Wells St., were able to move back in. Repairs to the building are ongoing, but residents can come home.
Late in the summer, a rear external stairway collapsed on the building, creating a fire-safety risk. 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. DNS has now given the all clear to come back.
A public hearing on Sept. 12 brought the issue to a head, with a wide-ranging discussion about the development’s unusual history, even more unusual elevator system and what could be done to fix it.
A class action lawsuit by some of the attendants against the building owner, Brinshore Development, is ongoing. Brinshore waived rent and paid for hotels during the displacement. Attorney Michael Cerjak filed the case.
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Weekly Recap
Movida’s Major Expansion
Construction work on a major expansion of Movida at Hotel Madrid is nearing completion.
The Walker’s Point restaurant, 600 S. 6th St., is receiving a two-story, eastern addition that includes a second-story rooftop patio, private event space, additional dining space and an expanded kitchen.
The expansion, which will open in early 2024, will help the Spanish tapas restaurant, bar and event venue bolster its chances of securing a windfall during the July Republican National Convention. It’s an opportunity not lost on owner Stand Eat Drink Hospitality Group, which is promoting convention-specific leasing options on the Movida website.
The website touts that the expansion will offer “seating for 500 guests, two kitchens, two bars, three dining rooms, and a second floor rooftop patio” across a 12,000-square-foot indoor-outdoor complex.
Walgreens Shutters Three Milwaukee Stores In One Year
One of the most ubiquitous American retailers continues to withdraw from Milwaukee.
In January, Walgreens is closing its pharmacy and retail store at 2222 W. Capitol Dr. on the edge of the Garden Homes neighborhood. It follows fall store closures on the far northwest side and south side.
“When faced with the difficult decision to close a location, several factors are taken into account, including our existing footprint of stores, dynamics of the local market, and changes in the buying habits of our patients and customers, among other reasons,” said the company in a statement about the latest closure.
As part of a cost-cutting move announced in June, the company is closing 150 stores from its roster of approximately 9,000 stores. It has also eliminated approximately 500 jobs from its office workforce.
Former Catholic School Sold To Charter School
A third charter school has acquired the former St. Michael’s Catholic School on Milwaukee’s West Side.
According to state real estate records, an affiliate of Milwaukee Academy of Science (MAS) purchased the currently vacant building at 2433 W. Cherry St. for $2.48 million on Dec. 22 from the former Penfield Montessori Academy.
MAS, a K4 through 12th grade school, is currently located at 2000 W. Kilbourn Ave. in a multi-tenant complex that was once home to Sinai Samaritan Medical Center. It has undertaken several expansion projects in recent years, including building a new gymnasium, to expand the facility’s maximum student capacity to 1,500. It currently has approximately 1,400 students.
Penfield, an affiliate of still-operating Penfield’s Children Center, closed at the end of the last school year, citing financial issues with state funding formulas. After the closure, the Wisconsin State Legislature and Governor Tony Evers passed a funding overhaul that substantially boosted per-pupil funding for charter and voucher schools.
What’s It Worth? University Club Milwaukee, $2,728,500
Simply because an event occurred suddenly doesn’t mean it came as a surprise. Case in point: Tuesday’s permanent closure of the city campus of The University Club of Milwaukee after 125 years in operation. Established in 1898 and still housed today in a 1926 John Russell Pope historic-designated Georgian building at 924 E. Wells St., its management had tried many strategies to keep the organization viable over the decades. These included the 2016 merger with the Tripoli Country Club [Est. 1921]. It was renamed University Club Country Club. That campus, at 7401 N. 43rd St., Brown Deer, will remain.
Management announced the permanent closure Wednesday, citing deferred maintenance, dwindling membership and other issues:
The Board contemplated and exhausted all reasonable alternative scenarios to improve the Club’s financial position and determined that the closure of the downtown facility was the only responsible option. The Club changed focus to preserve the country club experience.
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MPS has continued to use a number of buildings over 100 years old. I have never understood why MPS has never utilized this building with its unique architecture as a magnet or speciality school. This building will be a great buy for whichever group’s bid is accepted.