Neighbors react to Bay View plan
Apartments proposed at ‘gateway’ corner
Bay View residents who live near the former Hamburger Mary’s property raised concerns Wednesday about the mixed-use building being proposed as its replacement.
The estimated $25 million project, being developed by New Land Enterprises and designed by Korb & Associates, would be six stories high and feature retail on the ground floor with residential parking and 144 apartments on upper floors.
Some residents supported the project at a community meeting Wednesday night, citing the need for a more vibrant community, while others offered critiques.
“Everybody’s been used to having a real low density there,” nearby resident Timothy Mueller, 60, said at the
neighborhood meeting to unveil the building’s design. “It just seems so big compared to what’s always been there.”
Mueller said after the meeting that he understands the desire to develop the area, but he hopes that the “Bay View feeling” isn’t lost through that process, he said.
The proposed building would join two other new apartment complexes in the area — the 291-unit Stitchweld at 2141 S. Robinson Ave. and the 69-unit Vue at 2200 S. Kinnickinnic Ave.
Other attendees at the meeting, many of whom are business owners in the area, supported the project, saying it would liven up the neighborhood and stabilize the existing businesses.
Ada Duffey, who owns two businesses near the site, said the neighborhood needs more population density to help nearby businesses thrive.
The purpose of the
community meeting, which was led by Ald. Tony Zielinski, was to obtain the community’s input on the project before developers present it to the Common Council.
Concerns brought up during the meeting ranged from traffic congestion to reduced green space, crowded street parking for existing residents and a diminishing of the area’s retro aesthetics.
Tim Gokhman, director of New Land, addressed the concerns during the meeting, highlighting how much effort went into designing a building that current Bay View residents would support.
“There’s going to be an impact,” Gokhman said. “The question is, was it well thought out?”
Gokhman said the building’s vehicle entrance will be on Bay St., set off from the crowded intersection where the street meets Kinnickinnic Ave. Parking will be reserved for residents, he said, so they do not take up street parking, and there are nearby parking lots that visitors to the building’s retail centers can use.
One of the project’s architects, Jason Korb, said the building could serve as a “gateway to Bay View.”
Korb explained to residents at the meeting that the building’s design will pay tribute to Bay View’s past by incorporating gradient colors reminiscent of the steel rolling mills that formerly occupied the site.
Another feature is a covered walkway that sets the ground floor about 6 feet from the sidewalk and a woodgrated underside, “creating warmth and providing another reference to the park,” Korb said in an email after the meeting.
The informal neighborhood meeting is not the only chance the public has to offer opinions on the project. Before the proposed project gets approved, the developers will need to have public hearings before city committees.
The developers are hoping to have their first public hearing before the City Plan Commission on June 26 and get approval from the Common Council before July 31.