New Apartment Building Rises In Summerfest’s Shadow

Evoni Apartments construction. Photo by Jeramey Jannene.

Summerfest attendees might be surprised to see the Historic Third Ward inching ever closer to the festival grounds.

Kaeding Development Group is getting close to completing the five-story Evoni Apartments atop a long vacant lot.

The 261-unit complex is being developed on a 2.85-acre site at the southeast corner of the Third Ward bordered by the Italian Community Center (ICC) parking lot, E. Summerfest Place, N. Harbor Drive and the Milwaukee Ballet‘s Baumgartner Center for Dance. A parking lot controlled by Milwaukee World Festival, Inc. and used for Summerfest parking is just east of the site.

Construction is expected to be completed in early 2025.

The list of first-floor amenities that are intended to activate the building from the street, in addition to attracting tenants, include a club room, coworking space, yoga room, golf simulator, billiards room, bike room, conference room, dog wash and sauna.

E. Corcoran Avenue will be extended along the northern side of the building. Envisioned in an existing neighborhood plan, it will create a public connection between the neighborhood to the west and N. Harbor Drive.

Three courtyards will be inset into the building’s facade, yielding what developer Carl Kaeding told the neighborhood’s architectural review board in July 2022 is the visual appearance of three separate buildings. The north-facing courtyard will have a pool, a patio and grills are planned for the east courtyard and a dog park will fill the south courtyard.

Ramlow/Stein Architecture + Interiors is leading the complex’s design. VJS Construction Services is serving as the general contractor.

A 357-stall parking structure will be wrapped by the building, only visible from the ballet’s facility to the west.

Known as The Coachyards, the ICC acquired the former Chicago & North Western Railway yard from Milwaukee County in 1986 for $1.3 million. It sold the dance center property in 2017 for $2.4 million and the apartment site in December 2022 for $6.03 million. The ICC still maintains ownership of the majority of The Coachyards property.

The city, using increased tax revenue from other nearby developments, will pay for the long-contemplated addition of E. Corcoran Avenue. It will also construct a sidewalk and other infrastructure along the west side of N. Harbor Drive, where there is currently only a ditch.

The only building on the site was a 6,944-square-foot warehouse addressed as 640 E. Summerfest Pl. The ICC acquired that property in 1997 according to city records. The new property is addressed as 615 E. Corcoran Ave.

Much of Kaeding’s past work includes hotels, but the company is also developing a mixed-use complex in downtown St. Paul. The Milwaukee project was first publicly revealed in December 2021 and was redesigned in 2022 following feedback from the Historic Third Ward Architectural Review Board.

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Kaeding Building Plans

Street Plan

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