Building brought ‘Back from the Brink’
Hit by fire in 2001, it’s now apartments
The Beam House has features found in many other Walker’s Point apartments that have been converted from historic industrial buildings: solid timber beams and columns, high ceilings, large windows and lots of cream city brick.
It also has one unusual touch: a charred fire door on its fourth floor.
That particular decor is a reminder of the 2001 catastrophic blaze that nearly destroyed the five-story building, constructed in the 1870s as part of a former Pfister & Vogel tannery complex.
The Beam House, part of an ongoing conversion of four former tannery buildings into around 150 apartments, recently had its resilience recognized by an award from the Milwaukee Historic Preservation Commission.
The 63-unit Beam House, 625 W. Freshwater Way, won the Back from the Brink Award, part of the commission’s Cream of the Cream City Awards. The Back from the Brink Award honors projects that restore buildings that were on the verge of destruction. “The building practically burned to the ground,” said Beam House developer Peter Moede. “Everything on the third floor and up was completely gone, except for the brick. The bottom two floors had water damage.”
The fire in December 2001 started when sparks from a power saw ignited old industrial equipment covered with dried lacquer. Milwaukee firefighters poured 6 million gallons of water into the building until the fire was extinguished.
Moede at that time was starting to convert the building into condominiums.
During the 1990s, he had converted several other former Pfister & Vogel buildings into The Tannery, an office complex with retail space and a few apartments.
Those buildings today house such tenants as Aurora Health Care Inc., Lutheran Social Services of Wisconsin and Upper Michigan Inc., Springfield College and Great Lakes Distillery LLC.
The commercial buildings are between W. Bruce St. and the railroad tracks, just west of the 6th Street Viaduct. The Beam House and future residential buildings, known collectively as River Place Lofts,
are between the railroad tracks and the Menomonee River.
Shortly after the fire, Moede said, city building inspectors condemned the building and issued a raze order.
Moede fought that order, saying the building could still be restored. The fire damage, while extensive, didn’t destroy the building’s basic structure — a reflection of its solid construction.
“You ever throw a big, fat log on the fire?” Moede said. “It takes forever to burn.”
That dispute was resolved in 2004, he said.
By then, the condo market was starting to become overbuilt, Moede said. He repaired the fire damage, which was covered by insurance, and then put his development plans on hold.
The delay caused by the fire and the raze order may have prevented him from developing condos just before the housing market collapsed in 2007.
“Who knows what we would have been sitting on?” Moede said.
Moede was later approached by developers who wanted to create affordable apartments, financed in part by federal tax credits. He rejected those offers.
“I felt like it had a higher use,” Moede said. “We needed bigger, nicer units to show off the building.”
Also, there was limited access to the site. The only way to reach the buildings was to cross the railroad tracks from the south.
“That was prohibitive,” Moede said.
The access problem eventually was resolved with the 2014 development of Reed Street Yards by Moede and General Capital Group LLP.
That business park, anchored by Zurn Industries LLC’s new headquarters, is east of the 6th Street Viaduct overlooking the Menomonee River.
The business park’s financing includes $6.2 million in city funds for sewers, water mains, walkways and an extension of W. Freshwater Way west from S. 2nd St.
The money will be repaid through property taxes generated by new and remodeled buildings within a tax incremental financing district centered on Reed Street Yards.
The extended Freshwater Way ends at the gated main entrance to River Place Lofts, located beneath the viaduct.
River Place Lofts is the only gated community in the downtown area, Moede said. It’s designed to “preserve the urban setting,” but also provide residents with secure surface parking, he said.
The $13 million Beam House was completed in October 2015.
It’s fully leased, with monthly rents ranging from around $1,400 to $2,800. Tenants include young professionals, as well as former suburban empty nesters who want to live near downtown.
Restaurant operator Craig Calman Pruscha and Julie Langenkamp, a technical writer and editor, share an apartment with views of downtown’s skyline.
“I love the gritty nature” of the surrounding neighborhood, Pruscha said.
Meanwhile, Moede is converting another former tannery building, known as the Docks Building, into apartments.
That six-story, 39-unit building should be completed by April at a cost of $9 million, he said.
Work on the next phase, known as the Finishing House, is scheduled to begin by late summer. That $7.5 million project will create 28 apartments by July 2018, Moede said.
The final phase, known as the Power House, hasn’t yet been scheduled.
The financing for River Place Lofts includes state and federal historic preservation tax credits.
The Beam House is a good example of why those preservation tax credits are needed, said Matt Jarosz, Historic Preservation Commission chair.
“There it is at work,” he said.
River Place Lofts is among several apartment projects in Walker’s Point that are near the Global Water Center, which is just east of Reed Street Yards at 247 W. Freshwater Way.
They include Brix Apartment Lofts, 408 W. Florida St., a seven-story former candy factory converted to 98 apartments and 17,000 square feet of commercial space in December 2015; Artistry, opening in July at 133 W. Pittsburgh Ave., with three adjacent buildings being converted into 38 apartments and 30,000 square feet of commercial space; and The Quin, a five-story, 68-unit building planned for 324 S. 2nd St.
Moede isn’t concerned about the local apartment market possibly being overbuilt, which has led some developers to cancel, delay or downsize their projects. He’s building the units at River Place Lofts to a high enough quality level so they could eventually be converted to condos.
“I think there’s still room for new projects,” Moede said.