Affordable Housing At Former Bucyrus-Erie Buildings Moves Forward

Heritage building with improvement. Image from Continuum Architects + Planners, S.C.

Some vacant office buildings for a longtime manufacturer in South Milwaukee will become affordable housing.

Developer Scott Crawford Inc. is moving forward with a $50 million redevelopment of three former Bucyrus-Erie office buildings, 1100 Milwaukee Ave., in South Milwaukee.

The project will create 141 new rental units, with 81 affordable apartments for residents making $15 an hour or less and eight units for veterans making less than 60% of the area median income.

Milwaukee County funneled approximately $3 million into the project and the county’s housing division will make the referrals for the units set aside for veterans.

“So, many of you have heard us talk about our vision by achieving racial equity we become the healthiest county in the state of Wisconsin,” Crowley said. “But In order to achieve that we need to invest in affordable housing in every corner throughout Milwaukee County.”

County Executive David Crowley held an event at the office buildings Monday to announce the county would officially invest $2.5 million in federal American Rescue Plan Act (ARPA) funding in the project. The project also includes a stack of financing sources that includes $500,000 in Community Development Block Grant funds from the county Department of Health and Human Services.

Que El-Amin, founder of Scott Crawford, joined county officials, South Milwaukee Mayor Jim Shelenske and former Bucyrus CEO Tim Sullivan at the event. Sullivan and others praised El-Amin for his persistence on the project, as it has taken several years and gone through a number of different iterations. County officials first announced plans to back the project with ARPA funding in 2022.

El-Amin said he has listened to many local residents’ concerns and promised that he understands the history of the campus and plans to make the community proud.

The county has prioritized investment in suburban affordable housing projects under the Crowley administration as a way to improve housing mobility for the county’s low-income residents. South Milwaukee marks the seventh suburban community to welcome an affordable housing project that includes some money invested by the county since Crowley first took office, said Housing Division Director James Mathy.

Many of these communities have historically resisted affordable housing developments, and some even have a history of racial covenants preventing Black residents from purchasing real estate.

County Sup. Steven Shea, who represents South Milwaukee, said much of the new housing stock built in recent years has been unaffordable for low-income county residents. He called this project a piece of “good news” and said he particularly liked that there were units set aside for veterans. “It’s sad enough when anyone is homeless, but when somebody who has honorably worn our nation’s uniform is homeless, that’s a double disgrace,” he said.

Bucyrus-Erie was the best known business in South Milwaukee during its 118-year history in South Milwaukee, moving there from Ohio in 1893 and in its latter years known at Bucyrus International. In 2010, under the leadership of Sullivan, it was sold to Caterpillar for $7.6 billion, a transaction that closed on July 8, 2011.

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