City Demolishing King Drive Building It Once Sought to Save
Meanwhile, it acquired a nearby, vacant building via property tax foreclosure.
2543-2547 N. Martin Luther King Jr. Dr. Photo by Jeramey Jannene.
The City of Milwaukee will soon demolish a 93-year-old commercial building on Martin Luther King Jr. Dr. it sought to save less than five years ago.
A block north, it’s also taken ownership of an even older building that could ultimately be doomed to the same fate.
The Department of Neighborhood Services released a request for proposals (RFP) to find a demolition contractor to raze the two-story building at 2543-2547 N. Martin Luther King Jr. Dr. The RFP includes a six-property package of mechanical demolitions the city is pursuing.
Five years ago, the city thought it had found a restauranteur to save the 7,881-square-foot structure. Dwight Jackson was approved to buy the building for $1 and invest $920,000 to convert it into a home for his restaurant, Pepperpot.
But Jackson, with the COVID-19 pandemic’s onset, ultimately found a different home. He bought the building at 2215 N. Martin Luther King Jr. Dr. in 2021 for $375,000 and opened his restaurant in 2022.
The two-story building he passed on, which includes two storefronts and two second-floor apartments, will now be leveled.
By the time the city acquired the building via property tax foreclosure in 2017, it was already long vacant and in need of substantial repair. It had a sizable hole in an interior floor and a damaged ceiling. But the exterior was okay. “The outside of the building appeared to be in good condition,” says a 2018 Department of City Development (DCD) report.
In more recent years, the property has been exposed to the elements via open windows.
The retail storefronts, according to DCD’s 2018 report, were previously used to sell bicycles, groceries, ceramics, enamel, leather goods, lamps and tavern furniture. It’s served as a home for Little Mother’s Shop as well as The Grand Barber Shop and Kromah African Hair Braiding. A small garage at the rear at the site was once used as an auto repair shop.
The newly-vacant, 6,000-square-foot lot will join another to the south. After being destroyed by a fire in 2019, the three-story building at 2537-2541 N. Martin Luther King Jr. Dr. was completely demolished later that year. The city took possession of the now-empty 6,000-square-foot lot via foreclosure in June and will shortly have a 12,000-square-foot development site between Milwaukee Health Services‘ Heritage Health Center and its parking lot.
Another Building Acquired
While demolishing one building, the city has taken ownership of another.
In August, DCD took possession of the two-story building at 2601-2609 N. Martin Luther King Jr. Dr.
The 15,772-square-foot building was long home to Career Youth Development (CYD).
Founded in 1970 by Jeannetta Simpson-Robinson, CYD grew to become a large anti-poverty social service agency. But Simpson-Robinson passed away in 2008 and financial issues kept accumulating. The organization fiscally imploded in 2014, at a time when concerns about the condition of its headquarters were already publicly an issue. Newly-elected school board member James Ferguson II was one of a handful of people to briefly serve as the organization’s executive director while its finances crumbled.
In recent years, city inspectors have issued several code violations to the property. Now it’s their issue to manage.
“We are evaluating the conditions of that building at this time,” said DCD real estate specialist Matt Haessly at Monday’s meeting of the Bronzeville Advisory Committee.
A RFP will eventually offer the building for sale, but Haessly stressed that the city is in the “very preliminary stages.”
Historic King Drive Business Improvement District (BID) Executive Director Ray Hill said she is excited the city now has control over the property.
“People seem to be very interested in this site,” said Hill, noting prior inquiries.
In 2020, the BID was a key player in sprucing up the adjacent Victory Over Violence Park. The park was a creation of Simpson-Robinson.
Other properties scheduled for demolition by the city include houses at 3170 N. 9th St., 608 N. 30th St., 1702 N. 40th St., 2503 N. 44th St. and 3906 W. Burleigh St.
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