Apartment Development Proposed Just Off Downer Avenue
11-story condominium tower once proposed for site.
2560 N. Stowell Ave. Photo by Sophie Bolich.
A new apartment building could be coming to a site just off Downer Avenue.
Developer Thomas Schafer is seeking a zoning change for the parking lot at the intersection of E. Webster Place and N. Stowell Avenue.
An open zoning change request is pending before the Milwaukee Common Council and would first be reviewed by the City Plan Commission.
The proposal, said area Alderman Jonathan Brostoff in an interview, would be smaller than what is approved for the site today.
In 2007, New Land Enterprises secured approval to build a 11-story, 90-unit condominium development at the 0.45-acre site as part of a larger redevelopment of the commercial corridor. But the Great Recession effectively nixed the project.
Schafer’s request is, legally, an amendment to that proposal. But the full plans have yet to be released by the city.
Brostoff said he believes the new building to be at least four stories shorter than the New Land proposal. It is expected to be market-rate apartments.
“I will see what the public says and take it from there,” said the alderman.
Brostoff, who chairs the Zoning, Neighborhoods & Development Committee, has been an advocate for growing the city during his two years on the council.
That includes backing a zoning change to enable a four-story apartment building to be constructed on the opposite side of Downer Avenue. That building, The Fitz, opened in May.
Schafer would purchase the site, 2560 N. Stowell Ave., from an affiliate of Van Buren Management, which owns a large portion of the adjoining medical office building, 2524 E. Webster Pl. A series of houses, demolished approximately a year ago, once filled the Stowell Avenue site.
The real estate investor is also a partner in the new ownership group behind Pizza Man. A limited liability company, Bayside Mgmt, led by Schafer purchased the underlying real estate of the restaurant’s new-old location at 2597 N. Downer Ave. earlier this year.
Schafer also purchased another nearby property: UW-Milwaukee’s Purin Hall, 2600 E. Kenwood Blvd. Look for more on that in a future article.
Schafer did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
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