New Developer Will Salvage Long-Delayed Masonic Center Redevelopment

Historic Scottish Rite Masonic Temple. Photo by Jeramey Jannene.

After sitting vacant for nearly a decade, a downtown landmark has a new owner and a new path toward completion.

F Street Group announced Tuesday that it has acquired the former Humphrey Scottish Rite Masonic Center, 790 N. Van Buren St., and will finish converting the historic building into 22 luxury apartments.

The Milwaukee-based real estate firm is branding the project The Scot and expects to resume construction this fall, with pre-leasing beginning in spring 2027 and completion targeted for fall 2027.

“This building has sat unfinished long enough. We know the block, we know the market and we have the team and the capital to finish it right,” said Scott Lurie, F Street founder, in a statement. “The Scot will give downtown Milwaukee something it doesn’t have today: large, one-of-a-kind homes inside a landmark.”

F Street purchased the property out of foreclosure after an earlier redevelopment effort stalled. It has hired Marenzo Construction Group to complete the project and secured construction financing from Landmark Credit Union.

The project would retain the 22-unit configuration pursued by the prior development team, though F Street says the apartments would range much more widely in size than earlier plans suggested. The residences are expected to range from approximately 855 to 4,400 square feet.

No two units would have the same layout, according to the company, and several would incorporate the unusual architectural features created during the building’s long history. Those include a cathedral ceiling, exposed roof trusses, circular great rooms and portions of the building’s former stage.

The building was originally constructed as the Plymouth Congregational Church in 1889. It was built in the Richardsonian Romanesque style by congregation member and prominent architect Edward Townsend Mix. The Scottish Rite Masons, a branch of Freemasonry, bought the building from the Congregationalists in 1912 and in 1936 a second prominent architect, Herbert Tullgren, guided a substantial rehabilitation that gave the building an Art Deco, limestone facade.

The development is planned to include 20 underground parking stalls, a golf simulator, fitness center, saunas and community room. F Street’s in-house property management team would manage the building.

The acquisition represents the latest chapter in a redevelopment saga that stretches back nearly a decade.

Ascendant Holdings purchased the former Masonic center for $3.5 million in 2017 after the Scottish Rite Masons left the building. Its initial plan called for preserving the historic three-story structure while constructing a glassy, 14-story, 215-room hotel tower above it.

The city granted the property permanent historic designation while approving the hotel proposal, but Ascendant ultimately failed to secure financing.

A new plan emerged in 2021 when Northfield, Illinois-based Saxony Capital joined the redevelopment effort and purchased the property for $2.57 million. The hotel tower was dropped in favor of converting the existing building into 22 large apartments, which the preservation commission endorsed.

That proposal envisioned primarily two- and three-bedroom apartments, including multi-level units, rooftop penthouses and basement-level residences. Marketing materials suggested it would be targeted at college students.

Work started on that proposal, but has been stalled since 2022. A plan to transfer the stained glass windows to another development never occurred.

After Saxony’s lender foreclosed, the property was sold at a sheriff’s sale in May at a $1.85 million value.

F Street and Lurie have developed or acquired a number of projects, including The Forty Two at The Brewery District and a large housing development in Oak Creek known as Lakeshore Commons. The company acquired the Dubbel Dutch hotel in 2022. In early 2026, Lurie objected to historic designation of a cluster of properties he recently purchased on the East Side and said he was a victim of “slander,” but the Historic Preservation Commission and Common Council granted designation. If the exterior of the structure is not modified from the 2021 plan, F Street will not need additional historic commission approval.

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