Office-to-Housing Conversion Planned For Third Ward Building
Move is just the latest evolution for 126-year-old, terra-cotta Mayer Building.
Mayer Building. Photo by Jeramey Jannene.
A 126-year-old office building in the Historic Third Ward is preparing for new life.
Pieper Properties filed to convert the top two floors of the Mayer Building, 342 N. Water St., to 25 apartments.
The move would nearly complete a transition that has been underway for the past 12 years.
Starting in 2014, developer Ann Pieper Eisenbrown began converting the lower levels of the eight-story building to apartments as office spaces became vacant.
Floors two through five currently contain 60 apartments, while the first floor contains a West Elm store.
Office provider Regus, which rents offices and coworking spaces on a daily basis, continues to lease the building’s sixth floor.
Under a proposal first filed last week, the top two floors would be converted to apartments.
Pieper, in a May 20 email, declined to comment and said the plans are still being worked out.
A commercial alteration permit says Engberg Anderson is leading the design and that Berghammer Construction Corporation would serve as the general contractor. An estimated cost of $3.9 million is listed.
Rite-Hite previously leased the building’s seventh floor, but recently completed an entirely new corporate headquarters in the Reed Street Yards.
Accounting firm Cohen & Co. previously had its Milwaukee office on the eighth floor of the building, but recently relocated to 875 E. Wisconsin Ave. Bull Moose Financial relocated from the eighth floor to The Tannery Complex. Frontier Title & Closing Services currently leases space on the eighth floor.
The terra-cotta-clad building was designed by H.P. Schnetzky & Son for the F. Mayer Boot & Shoe Co. The top four floors were added in additions that occurred between 1915 and 1926.
A Wisconsin Historical Society report says a predecessor to the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs purchased the building in 1945. Pieper, who has led several successful historic preservation projects, has owned the property for more than two decades.
The building is located across E. St. Paul Avenue from the Milwaukee Public Market and across N. Water Street from 333 Water, a 31-story apartment building completed last year.
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