Officials Break Ground on Deer District Apartments

Officials at the groundbreaking ceremony for Fieldhouse Flats. Photo taken April 9, 2026 by Sophie Bolich.

Fieldhouse Flats is poised to transform a vacant city block across the street from Fiserv Forum.

The $117 million development, which broke ground Thursday, will bring 269 units of workforce housing and an athletic facility for students at Milwaukee Area Technical College (MATC) to a parcel bound by W. McKinley Avenue, W. Juneau Avenue, N. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Drive and N. Vel R. Phillips Avenue.

City officials, project leaders and others associated with the development joined dozens of onlookers under a blazing sun for the groundbreaking ceremony, using golden shovels to turn the first soil for the nearly two-year build.

“This project checks all the boxes,” said Joshua Jeffers, president and CEO of developer J. Jeffers & Co. “It’s not just one building going up, it’s another piece of a much bigger story about what this part of downtown Milwaukee is becoming.”

Plans for the project have shifted several times since its original proposal. The Bucks, in early 2023, said the site would become “workforce housing,” but it was later referred to as a “Class A” complex. In 2025, it was again described as market-rate housing.

Jeffers said the shift became official last year, but it didn’t bring any major design changes. “We did not water down the exterior design, and we did not lower the quality of the materials — we kept the exact vision for this building intact.”

Rent is expected to average just over $1,000 per month, according to Jeffers.

The below-market rates are available through the Wisconsin Housing and Economic Development Authority‘s low-income housing tax credit program. WHEDA provides income tax credits, often sold to investors to raise equity, in exchange for setting aside apartments at rates capped at 30% of a qualifying household’s income.

Mayor Cavalier Johnson praised the project as pushing back against price-outs. “These units are specifically for the hard-working Milwaukeeans who keep our city running,” he said. “Those are the teachers, healthcare workers, folks who plow the streets, service industry employees and young professionals who want — and most definitely deserve — to live in the same communities in which they’re working and building their futures.”

R4 Capital, a national affordable housing financial services firm, joined the project last fall. Financing for Fieldhouse Flats includes a $6.77 million property tax rebate from the city of Milwaukee, a $48.4 million mortgage from Freddie Mac, $41.6 million in property tax credits, $5.3 million in developer equity and $10 million in a deferred developer fee.

“Fieldhouse Flats shows what the Low Income Housing Tax Credit Program and Private Activity Bonds can accomplish in challenging market conditions, especially when paired with tax increment financing and strong community partners,” said Josh Perlmutter, vice president of LIHTC Equity Acquisitions for R4 Capital.

Non-residential portions of the complex will include 13,000 square feet of commercial space, a 27,000-square-foot shared-use athletic training facility and basketball field house and a 278-stall parking garage. MATC has committed to a 10-year, $15.5 million lease for the facility and will loan Jeffers & Co. $3.5 million for tenant improvements.

MATC President Anthony Cruz said he views the development as an opportunity to grow existing athletic programs, listing off recent accomplishments from the college’s Division II teams, including basketball, volleyball, soccer, baseball and softball.

“We are about to change as a community,” said Elmer Moore, Jr., executive director of the Wisconsin Housing and Economic Development Authority (WHEDA).

Fieldhouse Flats is being built on land that the Milwaukee Bucks organization was given as part of Fiserv Forum’s development.

“This project expands residential opportunities and helps make the Deer District a place that’s accessible and welcoming to everyone, which is essential for its and Milwaukee’s long-term growth and success,” said Michael Belot, senior vice president of operations and chief real estate development officer for the Bucks.

Pepper Construction is leading the build with design partner EUA. Progress will be visible at the site in the coming days, with construction estimated to be completed in just under two years. The project will come online in phases, said Jeffers, with the field house planned to debut in time for the fall 2027 semester, followed by the first 60 apartment units soon after.

At its peak, Fieldhouse Flats would rise to seven stories, with a rooftop deck and community room facing the Deer District plaza and Fiserv Forum to the south. The athletic facility would be located to the north, with an 18,000-square-foot plaza planned for the northeast corner. A parking structure would be located at the center of the block, wrapped by the development and accessible only from N. Vel R. Phillips Avenue.

Area Alderwoman Milele A. Coggs said she’s heard “all kinds of proposals” for the land, which she views as a “bridge between downtown and the greater community” to the north.

“I always believed that whatever we built here would be important to the history of the city,” Coggs said. “So there had to be inclusion, there had to be intention and there had to be collaboration. I think the project that has been proposed does just that.”

The complex would fill a 2.19-acre block between the Aloft Hotel and The Trade Hotel, once part of the Park East freeway — a fact County Executive David Crowley highlighted during the groundbreaking ceremony.

“We are standing near one of the very last Park East freeway parcels to be redeveloped,” he said. “Today’s announcement represents the growing momentum that is occurring right here at the Deer District, as well as throughout Milwaukee County.”

Groundbreaking Photos

Renderings

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