Ald. Bauman calls on DNS, DCD and Community Block Grant Administration to detail efforts at shuttered SoHi District apartment building

Alderman Robert J. Bauman has introduced a communication file that asks city department heads from the Department of Neighborhood Services (DNS), the Department of City Development, and the Community Block Grant Administration (Department of Administration) to appear before the Zoning, Neighborhoods and Development Committee TOMORROW (Tuesday, September 12), to address questions related to the sudden evacuation and closure last week of a large apartment building near N. 27^th and W. Wells Streets in the 4th Aldermanic District.

On September 6, DNS evacuated all residents in the 16 units of the SoHi Lofts building, 2632 W. Wells St., after the building’s owner failed to secure necessary permits to repair conditions that could be potentially deadly – including lacking minimum entrances and exits (points of egress) that would allow escape in the event of a fire. City records reportedly state the issues also include steel-framed exterior walkways on the east side of the building, along with rusty scaffolding. The building’s only elevator is inoperable, and rusted stairs have fallen from the building.

Questions about the current ownership of the building “must also be addressed immediately,” Alderman Bauman said.

“The city has invested millions of dollars in this property over the last 25 years to provide quality affordable housing,” Alderman Bauman said. “Now we are finding out that the building has nightmarish safety issues that have not been addressed nor reported to my office. I have great concerns about how this project has been supervised by city departments, and I will be looking for some answers at tomorrow’s meeting.”

The meeting starts at 9 a.m. tomorrow in room 301-B at City Hall, 200 E. Wells St., and will be televised live on the City Channel (channel 25 on Spectrum Cable and channel 99 on AT&T U-Verse in the City of Milwaukee) and via streaming video on the city website at www.city.milwaukee.gov/Channel25.

NOTE: This press release was submitted to Urban Milwaukee and was not written by an Urban Milwaukee writer. While it is believed to be reliable, Urban Milwaukee does not guarantee its accuracy or completeness.