See Selected Plan To Replace Vacant Building, Park
Housing and entertainment proposal now heads to the Common Council for final approval.
Victory Lofts. Rendering by Engberg Anderson.
The Bronzeville Advisory Committee (BAC) has picked its winner.
The citizen board has determined that Anthony Kazee‘s KG Development Group should redevelop the former Career Youth Development (CYD) building and adjacent Victory Over Violence Park site at 2601-2643 N. Martin Luther King Jr. Dr.
KG’s $15.7 million project is known as Victory Lofts. It would include 48 apartments, a 7,500-square-foot performing arts and cultural venue with a commercial kitchen and approximately 10,300 square feet of public green space.
Victory Lofts was one of three finalists for a request for proposals to redevelop the city-owned site. In May, the BAC held public presentations on the concepts. Each member, except for one affiliated with a project, then submitted scoring rubrics for each project.
KG’s project scored 240 points, eclipsing the 227 points scored by Brandon Methu‘s Northernstar Companies and the 221 points scored by the Martin Luther King Economic Development Corporation, led by Nicole Robbins. All three proposals included an affordable-housing component.
After hearing the scores, the board voted unanimously to forward the recommendation to the Common Council.
“All of your projects were high quality,” said BAC Chair LaShawndra Vernon during the board’s Monday morning meeting. She encouraged the other development teams to bid on future Bronzeville development sites.
Kazee is working with three recent Associates in Commercial Real Estate, ACRE, program graduates: Rise & Grind cafe owner Baboonie Tatum, Donna Page of Chic Lifestyles and Jairus Shaw of Shaw Companies. The three created the project originally as part of the ACRE program training. Tatum is a BAC member and abstained from participating in the evaluation process.
KG’s development would have a focus on live arts and entertainment, including an indoor dance performance stage. It would share parking with the nearby Milwaukee Health Services facility as well as providing 56 on-site spots.
Neaokia Spillers-Collins will serve as the anchor tenant and operate the entertainment space, Tatum said on May 11.
The project would honor CYD founder and community activist Jeanetta Simpson-Robinson, who died in 2008. Her son, Chris Walton, attended the May meeting and said he is supporting the Victory Lofts proposal.
“One of the really important things for us was to honor Ms. Jeannetta Simpson-Robinson and all of the hard work that she’s done,” said Page.
Simpson-Robinson would be honored by a redone mural on the site and a “full programming cadence” that honors her legacy as a leader in youth and community support.
KG would pay $280,000 for the site, the city’s minimum asking price, and would be required to pay to clear the site.
The development relies on securing low-income housing tax credits as its primary source of financing. The state-administered credits provide project equity in exchange for reserving specific units at rates intended not to exceed 30% of a qualifying household’s income.
Affordable housing proposals also regularly include a city subsidy in the form of a tax incremental financing district that effectively rebates property tax payments for a set period. KG’s project includes such support.
Victory Lofts would include a mix of one-, two- and three-bedroom units.
Engberg Anderson and Catalyst Construction are the design and general contracting firms on the project.
The decision is subject to confirmation by the Common Council, but the city’s legislative arm has never overruled the advisory board’s selection of a request-for-proposals winner.
Area Alderwoman Milele A. Coggs attended Monday’s virtual meeting and spoke after the board made its choice. “I want to thank everybody who submitted,” she said after the committee made its choice. She encouraged the other groups to bid on future Bronzeville sites that become available for redevelopment.
The city issued a request for proposals for the 1.4-acre site in January, seeking a taxable development with at least 10,000 square feet of public gathering space to replace the park. The Department of City Development received six proposals before narrowing the field to three finalists.
The city acquired the former CYD building in 2024 after the long-struggling nonprofit folded.
In partnership with now-competitor MLK EDC, KG completed the LaMarr Franklin Lofts last year at 3317 N. Martin Luther King Jr. Dr. Working with General Capital Group, it completed the Riverwest Workforce Apartments and Food Accelerator.
Kazee is now working to assemble a complex financing package for KG’s Meinecke Lofts proposal, a senior-focused affordable housing development.
The firm is nearing completion of construction on the redevelopment of the former Jewish Home at 2436 N. 50th St. into a mix of affordable and crisis housing.
Renderings and site plans
Existing building
2020 park photos
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- November 30, 2015 - Milele A. Coggs received $50 from LaShawndra Vernon
