3700-3702 N. Teutonia Ave. Photo by Jeramey Jannene.

A 101-year-old, two-story building near the intersection of N. Teutonia Avenue and W. Capitol Drive would see new life instead of demolition if investor Antoine Williams gets his way.

“My intention is to rehab this building and put it back on the tax [rolls],” said Williams to the Zoning, Neighborhoods & Development Committee. He made an unsolicited offer to purchase the building, even though exactly what he’ll do with a key piece of it is unclear. “I don’t have any intentions for the commercial space other than to rent it out.”

The 3,478-square-foot structure, 3700-3702 N. Teutonia Ave., includes a first-floor storefront and three apartments.

“Three months of hard work and the city will probably be collecting taxes on a building that’s been abandoned for more than a decade,” said Williams, overselling the vacancy by a couple years.

In 2016, the city acquired the building from A.J. Wilson via property tax foreclosure.

“At the time of the acquisition, the building had considerable deferred maintenance and had been struck by vehicles traveling northbound on Teutonia Avenue,” said Department of City Development (DCD) real estate specialist Matt Haessly. A high-profile 2015 crash, a result of a high-speed chase, occurred when the first floor was being rehabbed and people lived upstairs.

The building was placed on the city’s “raze list.”

“I want to thank Mr. Williams for his determination,” said area Alderwoman Milele A. Coggs. “I think it’s a great opportunity to save the city money and eventually make the city money. Saving us the cost of demolition and saving the neighborhood the cost of another vacant lot being dumped on.”

Williams has previously purchased and rehabilitated two city-owned apartment buildings in Coggs’ district.

His latest purchase, subject to council approval, would cost $5,000. It would include a deed restriction prohibiting a liquor store, pawn shop, gun store, e-cigarette retailer or other often-opposed uses from opening in the building.

Newspaper records indicate the first floor has achieved an unusual Milwaukee feat: it was never referenced as a bar.

It’s spent much of its life as a pharmacy, as it was originally designed by Leiser & Holst. But that doesn’t mean liquor wasn’t sold.

In 1946, a 17-year-old Rufus King High School senior claimed she bought whiskey illegally from the pharmacy, shared it with her friends and then went to her graduation ceremony. The proprietor denied the charge, according to a Milwaukee Journal article from an era when the newspapers could afford writers filing multi-paragraph pieces on such dreadful crimes.

The sale also includes the city-owned vacant lot to the north, 3706 N. Teutonia Ave. The city acquired the 3,570-square-foot property, which includes a billboard, from Wilson in 2015 through property tax foreclosure. Aerial images indicate it’s been approximately a century since there was a building on the property.

A DCD report estimates the rehabiliation costs at $140,000.

The committee unanimously endorsed the sale. The full council is to review the proposal on Jan. 17.

The proposal isn’t the only recent investment in the Arlington Heights neighborhood. Across W. Nash Street to the south, pastor and retired UPS driver Eric Brown redeveloped a one-story building at 3658-3660 N. Teutonia Ave. in 2021 into a hub for new entrepreneurs. A list of occupancy permits indicates he’s having lots of success landing cosmetic and beauty-focused tenants.

Photos

Weekly Recap

Program Promotes Homeownership for Low-Income Renters

A program meant to promote homeownership and empower low-income residents in Milwaukee has opened the door for 30 tenants in affordable housing to become homeowners.

The Metcalfe Park Homeownership Initiative is a lease-purchase program in the Metcalfe Park neighborhood on the north side of Milwaukee. Thirty single-family homes were built 15 years ago on tax-foreclosed lots. Now the homes, which are valued at about $125,000 each, are being sold to tenants for anywhere between $40,000 and $80,000.

They’re available at those rates because of a provision in the federal low-income housing tax credit that allows tenants to buy their homes at a discount 15 years after development. It’s known as the eventual tenant ownership model. Developers who receive the tax credit agree to those terms.

Three of the 30 homes at Metcalfe Park were sold last year. Now advocates are promoting the benefits of homeownership to other eligible tenants.

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Froedtert Hospital Plans 9-Story Tower

Froedtert Hospital is planning to build a nine-story patient tower on its main campus in Wauwatosa, the hospital system announced Tuesday.

The 225,000-square-foot tower will include inpatient care floors, a new main lobby expansion and a bridge connector to a parking structure that is currently under construction. If the project is approved by the city of Wauwatosa, it will begin in summer with anticipated completion in 2027.

Hospital officials would not release information about how much the project will cost or how many beds it will add to the hospital.

Froedtert currently has 766 beds and operates the region’s only level one trauma center.

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Whitefish Bay Affordable Housing Project Stalled

An affordable housing project in the Village of Whitefish Bay with financial backing from Milwaukee County has been rejected by a village commission that reviews development proposals.

The planned development is a 17-unit affordable apartment building at 4800-4818 N. Santa Monica Blvd. The three-story building would sit at the intersection of N. Santa Monica Boulevard and E. Hampton Road, considered a prominent entry-point to the village.

Milwaukee County awarded approximately $3.2 million to developer Spoerl Development to support the project. Increasing the supply of affordable housing in the suburbs is a policy goal of County Executive David Crowley.

But the project has been stalled, and potentially derailed, by the village’s Architecture Review Commission (ARC), which voted on Dec. 21, to reject the project. The commission voted 4-2 to reject the project for permitting by the village. The project will go before the village’s Board of Appeals in February, seeking a reversal of the decision.

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City Expects to Take Northridge In Foreclosure, Demolish Mall

The end is nigh for Northridge Mall, according to city officials. Milwaukee could take possession of the long-vacant mall by the end of the month through foreclosure. Demolition could begin in the summer.

That’s according to a multi-department presentation made Tuesday to the Zoning, Neighborhoods & Development Committee.

The mall’s Chinese ownership group, U.S. Black Spruce Enterprise Group, missed a Dec. 20 redemption deadline in a property tax foreclosure case. The final action on the case is expected to occur on Jan. 25.

“That’s kind of like checkmate,” said committee chair Alderman Michael Murphy.

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