A Brady Street Two-Fer

We’re covering two developments on E. Brady St. for this double-stuffed edition of Friday Photos. The first, the Keystone on Brady at the northwest corner of E. Brady St. and N. Humboldt Ave. is a mixed-use project that will bring apartments and commercial space to the diverse street. The latter is a decidedly more single-use project, a two-story Qdoba restaurant at the northwest corner of E. Brady St. and N. Warren Ave.

Keystone Apartments

The Keystone Apartments project will bring 22 apartments and a 3,300 square-foot commercial space to E. Brady St. Ogden Multifamily Partners is developing the project and serving as their own general contractor through the firm’s Ogden Construction arm. Design of the building is being led by Tim Wolosz of Engberg Anderson. North Shore Bank is providing financing.

The L-shaped building will eventually rise four floors, although the fourth floor will only contain a club room and fitness center. The apartments will be a mix of studio, one- and two-bedroom units. Twenty three vehicle parking stalls will be located in the building.

A one-story, 2,270 square-foot building on the site was demolished to make way for the development. As opposed to the traditional golden shovels event to kick-off construction, Ogden let dignitaries take swings with gold-painted sledgehammers.

Will it destroy the character of Brady St? Area alderman Nik Kovac doesn’t think so. After taking a few swings with a sledgehammer at the June event, Kovac told me: “I think this is a great building, and it came out of many different and often conflicting opinions about what should be here. But at the end of the day I think it’s well designed. It will be a new icon on an iconic street.”

The new building is anticipated for completion in 2017.

Brady St. Qdoba

The more polarizing development on E. Brady St. is the construction of a two-story building to house a Qdoba Mexican Grill at 1348 E. Brady St. The building is being built on a long vacant site.

A representative of Roaring Fork Restaurant Group, the Wisconsin franchisee for Qdoba, told Urban Milwaukee they hope to open the restaurant in January. The restaurant is being designed and constructed by Waukesha-based The Redmond Company.

Customers will find a partial upper level complete with a 12-seat balcony and 32-seat mezzanine area. The rear of the second level will be open to the first floor. The first floor will include 40 seats, as well as restrooms, the kitchen and other service areas.

The project returns to the city’s Historic Preservation Commission on Monday to get approval for an art installation on the northern portion of its N. Warren Ave. facade.

Will it destroy the character of Brady Street? Urban Milwaukee commenters are divided on the topic, with one going as far as to say “there goes the neighborhood” and another chiming in, “this is great infill.” As far as this author is concerned, the urban building is much more preferable than a vacant lot.