Apartments proposed in Walker’s Point
2 buildings would be converted
Two Walker’s Point buildings would be converted into apartments under two separate plans pending before Milwaukee officials.
Together, the projects would create 74 new apartments within that neighborhood south of downtown.
The larger project, totaling 62 units, would be at The Tannery office park, which is mainly north of W. Virginia St. and west of S. 6th St.
It would involve an investment of over $10 million, according to plans filed with the Board of Zoning Appeals.
LCM Funds 20 LLC, a group led by developer David Winograd, is proposing to redevelop the six-story Grainery Building, at 720 W. Virginia St.
“Our intent is to convert the vacant industrial/office building into high quality, market rate apartments,” said the board filing.
The proposed conversion first surfaced in 2015, when the developers asked the board to grant a height variance.
That variance, granted last year, allows LCM Funds to add another floor to the six-story building.
With the latest filing, the developers are seeking a second variance to add another floor to provide a parking garage.
That parking structure is needed to make the project viable, according to the proposal.
Winograd couldn’t immediately be reached Wednesday for more information.
The Grainery is just south of River Place Lofts, a separate apartment development that will eventually have around 150 units in four buildings.
That development’s 63-unit first phase, a converted five-story former tannery building known as The Beam House, is open at 625 W. Freshwater Way.
Meanwhile, a separate proposal is seeking a variance for the proposed conversion of a three-story building at 425 W. National Ave. into 12 apartments and street-level retail space.
National Block LLC bought that vacant building last August. The group is seeking state and federal historic preservation tax credits to help finance the project, said developer Michael Morrison.
Morrison, who operates Hartland-based construction firm True Inc., and his partners plan to create mostly larger onebedroom units. The retail space would total around 5,500 square feet.
National Block’s $4 million project would revitalize a building that has been condemned by city building inspectors, according to the zoning board filing.
Built around 1885, the building was last used as a rooming house on its upper floors, with offices on its street level.
The building’s lack of parking has been “a stumbling block” to its redevelopment, Morrison said.
That’s despite being in a neighborhood that has seen such nearby apartment projects as last year’s conversion of an office building into the 36-unit Mercantile Lofts, 611 W. National Ave.
National Block’s solution was to buy nearby empty lots, at 639-643 and 701-705 S. 4th St., that can accommodate 25 to 30 parking spaces, according to the board filing.
Morrison said the building’s redevelopment would take about 14 months to complete.
The zoning board is to consider the variance requests for both projects at its June 29 meeting.