Development could be catalyst for Grafton

Urban-style project includes housing, retail

GRAFTON - When it opens June, the 1505 Apartments will mark an unusual project for Grafton: an urban-style, mixeduse development that features street-level retail and apartments on three upper floors.

The downtown development also will include a public plaza, with local officials hoping 1505 Apartments will help attract more projects to one of Grafton’s major commercial streets.

“We hope it serves as a momentum builder,” said Jesse Thyes, village administrator.

The first phase of the 1505 Apartments, partly financed with village cash, is a four-story building with 77 apartments and 10,700 square feet of retail space.

Around half of those apartments will be available on June 1, with the rest available by July 1, said Kathy Nettesheim, vice president of property management at Fiduciary Real Estate Development Inc.

The retail space should be completed by September.

Meanwhile, construction is to start by late summer on a second building, with more than 40 apartments, Nettesheim said. That building, with three to four stories, likely would be completed in spring 2018.

The 1505 Apartments, which is being developed on a former lumberyard west of Wisconsin Ave., south of Beech St., has leased 20 apartments so far, with strong prospects for another 20 units, Nettesheim said.

“A lot of people are excited” about living in a higher-end downtown location, said Evan Diece, 1505 Apartments property manager.

The future residents so far include retirees, graduate students at Concordia University Wisconsin’s School of Pharmacy in Mequon, nurses who work at Aurora Health Care’s Grafton hospital and other local professionals.

That group includes a few people who work at Kohler Co.’s headquarters, a commute of around 35 minutes from 1505 Apartments.

The monthly rents range from $950 for a studio unit to $2,000 for a three-bedroom apartment. The upscale touches include stainless steel kitchen appliances, granite countertops and walk-in closets.

The new residents should provide a boost for downtown retail businesses, said Pam King, Grafton Area Chamber of Commerce executive director.

“The businesses in the downtown are very happy to see more apartments in this area,” King said.

“I think it’s going to be very good because it’s people who are right here in downtown,” said Kim Meisinger, owner of Bloo-

Olive flower shop.

Meanwhile, a dry cleaner and a hair salon are in negotiations to lease around 4,000 square feet in the commercial space, Nettersheim said.

Fiduciary also hopes to land a restaurant and a coffee shop, she said.

Along with its mix of retail and housing, the 1505 Apartments has other urban design features that make it unusual among Grafton properties.

“It is a departure from the norm,” said Thyes, the village administrator.

There is a surface parking lot for retail customcommercial

ers and residents. But there also is underground parking for residents.

The amenities for apartment residents include a rooftop terrace.

Finally, the private patio for the future restaurant is next to a public plaza along Wisconsin Ave. that the village is building. That plaza is expected to open by Memorial Day weekend.

It will be the second downtown public space developed over the past decade.

It is about one block southwest of Paramount Plaza. That space opened in 2006 and marks Grafton’s role as the former home to pioneering blues label Paramount Records.

The new plaza will help encourage more pedestrimin’

“We hope it serves as a momentum builder.”

JESSE THYES, GRAFTON VILLAGE ADMINISTRATOR

an and bike traffic, Thyes said.

It also will provide additional spectator space for the June 17 Giro d’Grafton bicycle race, which is part of the Tour of America’s Dairyland series.

Finally, village officials hope the 1505 Apartments will help attract more development to a stretch of Wisconsin Ave. heading south from downtown, Thyes said.

The Wisconsin Ave. corridor has seen new projects in recent years, including last fall’s completion of Village Pointe Commons senior living community.

But it also has some underused and vacant buildings. That includes the former Pick ’n Save supermarket that was replaced by a new Pick ’n Save in 2009.

Grafton is helping finance 1505 Apartments.

The Grafton Community Development Authority sold the 4.7-acre former lumberyard to the developers for $1. Also, the Village Board in 2015 agreed to provide about $875,000 in village cash for the $17 million development. Those funds are coming from the new project’s property taxes, with the payments to stop in 2024.

Both Fiduciary and its partner, Shaffer Development LLC, have been involved in other mixed-use urban-style projects in suburban Milwaukee.

Shaffer Development and Wired Properties LLC developed Mequon Town Center in Mequon.

Fiduciary’s projects include The Junction at Whitestone Station in Menomonee Falls, The District at Mayfair Collection in Wauwatosa and 84 South in Greenfield.

“The businesses in the downtown are very happy to see more apartments in this area.”

PAM KING, GRAFTON AREA CHAMBER OF COMMERCE EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR