Third Ward project gets approval
Building to house retailers, apartments
A vacant four-story Milwaukee building will be converted into apartments and retail space under revised plans approved Wednesday by the Historic Third Ward Architectural Review Board.
Work will begin this spring on renovating the 14,400square-foot building at 203207 N. Broadway. It will have around 1,000 square feet of street-level retail space, to open by the end of the year, and seven upper-floor apartments.
The building is drawing interest from “some exciting ground-floor retailers,” project architect Eric Ponto, of Engberg Anderson Architects, told board members. He declined to name the prospective tenants.
The building housed Paintball Dave’s before it closed last year. Its planned renovation will bring needed activity to the northwest corner of N. Broadway and E. Chicago St., said Greg Patin, a board member and Department of City Development strategic development manager.
“With the building now, you turn the corner off Broadway and you kind of lose energy,” Patin said.
The building is owned by Margaret Martin, who operates Hot Pop, a Third Ward boutique at 201 N. Water St.
Martin last year redeveloped a neighboring four-story building, 211-213 N. Broadway, into street-level space for Lily Pad Gallery West and home goods seller Mod Gen, along with 18 upper-level apartments.
The review board granted conceptual approval for the latest project after Ponto made changes to the building’s planned design.
That included reducing the size of its penthouse addition, which board members in December described as overwhelming.
“It’s a great improvement,” said Matthew Jarosz, a board member and director of the Historic Preservation Institute at the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee’s School of Architecture and Urban Planning.