City’s New Historic District On Hold

3100 block of W. Wisconsin Ave. Photo by Jeramey Jannene.

A proposal to grant historic protection to a cluster of Wisconsin Avenue homes is on ice. And not because one of the property owners wished “untreatable cancer” to one member of the Common Council.

“I move to hold this item in council,” said Alderman Robert Bauman during Tuesday’s Common Council meeting. Those eight words from the measure’s leading proponent, and the recipient of the death wish and other vulgarities, were enough to pause the district’s creation.

The hold, Bauman told Urban Milwaukee after the meeting, will allow new alderwoman Sharlen Moore to weigh in. As part of the 2021-22 redistricting process, the five-home cluster at the intersection of N. 31st Street and W. Wisconsin Avenue will be split between Bauman’s 4th District and Moore’s 10th District. The change formally goes into effect on April 16 when Moore and her colleagues are sworn in.

The houses, according to city planners at the Historic Preservation Commission (HPC), are said to to represent the largest intact cluster of homes from the street’s Grand Avenue era when it was home to stately mansions. Three of the homes on the south side of Wisconsin Avenue will be in Moore’s district and all three owners, who use the properties as office buildings, have opposed the designation. Two homes on the north side will remain in Bauman’s district. The owner of the adjoining homes has not stated a public position on the matter.

Moore, who lives just a few blocks away, will be allowed to vote on the issue. Her predecessor, Michael Murphy, never took a public position on the matter, which has been slowly working its way through the approval process since January.

The new alderwoman has at least two colorful, hours-long hearings to catch up on. At a March 11 hearing, where the historic commission recommended preservation, real estate investor Eric Sobush called Bauman, a commission member, a “mother f**ker.” Later that night, Sobush’s partner Mark Roeker emailed Bauman: “Hope you get untreatable cancer.” Sobush and Roeker own the home at 3121 W. Wisconsin Ave., where they have their office and live.

On April 4, at a council zoning committee hearing to review the HPC decision, Sobush and Roeker were joined in opposition by the owners of the houses on each side of theirs. The two investors said they had listed the house for sale and planned to relocate to New Berlin, while the other owners asked questions about the process and asked for it to be delayed, if not blocked. But the committee unanimously approved historic designation.

The city’s historic preservation ordinance requires owners of designated properties to secure city approval for exterior modifications. Advocates of the new historic district noted that the properties were also eligible for state and federal designation, which would enable income tax credits to be issued for historically-sensitive improvements.

Berrada Property Designated

One property didn’t escape the pause. The council voted unanimously to historically protect the Millerand Apartments, 3035 W. Wisconsin Ave., a 1920s-era apartment building.

It’s the building that started the whole debate because of who acquired it last year: Berrada Properties. The company is Milwaukee’s largest landlord and its regular exterior modifications include boulders ringing properties and uncovered wood awnings. The eight-story building’s exterior, according to the HPC staff, is currently nearly unmodified from its original appearance.

Representatives of Berrada Properties have not objected to protecting the building, nor its architectural merit, but they have questioned designating the entire property, including the landscaping. “We are here for a narrow purpose,” said attorney Richard Donner on April 4. He said the firm wanted the designation changed to include just the structure, not the surrounding site. He cited a 2008 city attorney’s office opinion as guidance for the narrower designation.

A representative of the City Attorney’s Office said they were unaware of the prior opinion, drawing the ire of Bauman who pushed the designation forward with the understanding the council could hold it if the City Attorney had concerns. On Tuesday, the council approved it without discussion.

The Millerand is an eastern bookend to the cluster of homes. A Berrada building at the western end of the cluster is not part of the designation because of its heavily modified state. Bauman said those modifications occurred under a prior owner. That building now sports the traditional Berrada visual indicators.

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