Developer Plans Large Project On Bay View, Harbor District Border
Former Vilter Manufacturing site could house more than 500.
2252 S. 1st St. Image by Urban Milwaukee staff.
New Land Enterprises is looking to build its largest development ever on a mostly vacant site at the intersection of S. 1st and E. Becher streets.
And that means a lot coming from the company that developed the tallest mass timber building in the world.
The company is planning to construct approximately 500 apartments on a five-acre site, 2252 S. 1st St.
Unlike The Corliss, a 576-unit, eight-building development nearing completion on the 10-acre site to the east, New Land would construct two large buildings split over two phases.
“Imagine two Novas,” said developer Tim Gokhman in comparing the proposal to the company’s 251-unit building it completed Downtown in 2023.
It hopes to finance the development using the Department of City Development‘s workforce housing incentive guidelines. A tax incremental financing district, effectively a property tax rebate, would provide equity to the development in exchange for New Land restricting rental rates to be affordable for those making 80% of the county median income.
The new incentives, under which only one project has been approved to date, are designed to create housing at a price point that currently isn’t being served by the market because of high construction costs and interest rates.
New Land would purchase the property from an affiliate of Mallory Properties.
A rezoning request was recently published by the city that would redesignate the site as “Industrial Mixed,” giving the company substantial flexibility in its design and configuration while adhering to formula-based density limits. A similar process was followed for The Corliss. The blanket change avoids the more costly and nuanced Detailed Planned Development designation, which ties a developer to a specific design and unit count.
New Land, said Gokhman, is working with frequent partner Korb Architecture on how to craft a thoughtful design. “We think about things like density and traffic. Like, what does it mean to bring over 1,000 units to a block? It’s not even a block. It’s bigger than a super block, but like to an area. What does that look like? I think we have to be mindful of that.”
That level of density, coupled with the River One development to the northwest, would add more than 1,000 residents to the area that was, pre-pandemic, mostly vacant industrial space. It could yield new commercial amenities that the surrounding Harbor District, Bay View and Walker’s Point neighborhoods could benefit from.
New Land, said Gokhman, is pursuing a grocery store tenant that would bump the building height from seven stories to eight stories. Without the grocery store, New Land is pursuing what is commonly known as a “five over two” style building, where two concrete floors, containing parking, are placed under five floors of wood apartments. It would add another concrete floor to the base if a grocery store is secured.
Between the market rate housing at River One and all-affordable Corliss development, New Land’s development would also provide housing at a middle income price point.
New Land’s site, similar to The Corliss, spans from E. Becher Street to E. Lincoln Avenue. But unlike The Corliss, which has no east or west facing street frontage, New Land’s site would have substantial frontage along S. 1st Street.
A formal request for TIF support has not yet been submitted to the city, said the developer.
Two other New Land proposals in Walker’s Point, Via and Forma, are expected to go through the financing program first.
New Land, in 2020, also completed the six-story, 140-unit KinetiK building along Kinnickinnic Avenue to the east. Rents at the new complex, under a conceptual TIF agreement, would be lower than those at KinetiK or Nova said Gokhman.
The average rent, said the developer, would be approximately $1,800. The rate is inclusive of all unit sizes, ranging from studio to three bedroom layouts.
The latest project site, formally covered by the city’s Harbor District Water and Land Use Plan, has been on the market for several years. It has been used as a staging site by several contractors in recent years.
A single warehouse building remains in the middle of the site. Two buildings at the northern end of the site were demolished in 2016, as well as a southern building.
The property and those on the other side of the street were long part of Vilter Manufacturing Corp’s Bay View factory complex, which dated back to the 1890s. The complex was used to produce refrigeration equipment, notably engines and compressors, for the city’s brewing industry and, during World War II, howitzers. A history website says the complex was also used to produce air conditioning equipment for the 1960 Olympics in Rome. Vilter moved to Cudahy in 1995.
Public hearings before the City Plan Commission and the Common Council’s Zoning, Neighborhoods & Development Committee are required before the Common Council can vote on a zoning change.
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