Goll House apartment proposal gets the OK
Plan Commission gives go-ahead to 27-story building
The Milwaukee Plan Commission overwhelmingly approved a proposal Monday to develop the historic Goll House property to include a 27-story apartment tower at the site on Milwaukee’s east side.
“I think this plan is part of the natural evolution of Prospect Avenue, from the days when it was the Gold Coast of Milwaukee lined with the grand mansions of movers and shakers, to a period when lower-rise apartments were being built, some of which were quite elegant, and then the tear-it-down period of the ’60s and ’70s when we lost a lot of great old houses, to the renewal of the avenue,” Commissioner Whitney Gould said at Monday’s meeting. “I think that this building is unusually well designed.”
Only one commissioner voted against the $55 million project, despite a flurry of criticism from residents at the neighboring condominium building. They and other opponents packed the meeting to testify against the plan and wrote letters warning of traffic hazards, bluff erosion and public safety concerns.
Carol Wolcott said she moved to Milwaukee from Chicago and would hate to see the city make the same transportation mistakes as her former home.
“You have everything here that Chicago has, without the hassles,” Wolcott told the commissioners.
The project, proposed by a limited liability company affiliated with Madison developer Chris Houden, involves relocating and restoring the 1898 house and constructing a new, nearly 200-unit apartment building on the property, which is located at 1550 N. Prospect Ave.
At Monday’s meeting, Houden told commissioners that
the project would be a “tremendous addition to the east side.”
“We believe this project is a big win for the neighborhood, the city and historic preservation,” Houden said. “It provides us with a great opportunity, probably the only opportunity, to save the Goll Mansion.”
He and Thomas Miller, the architect working on the project, stressed the differences in the current plan compared with their proposal that failed to pass the Common Council last year. They pointed to parking and access changes to reduce potential traffic impacts, and a commitment to hiring city residents and working with minorityowned businesses.
But Ald. Robert Bauman, whose district includes the site, disputed that the plan had changed significantly.
“It’s the same project,” Bauman said. “The only change I can discern is they moved it 10 feet.”
Houden tried twice before to gain approval for plans to develop the site. Both times, the plan failed to get the required supermajority of the council’s approval after neighbors protested the plan.
Houden had been barred for a year from resubmitting proposals to develop the property.
A zoning change application allowed Houden to start that approval process again.
The plan next goes to the Common Council’s Zoning and Neighborhood Development Committee and then to the full council.
On Monday, Houden was encouraged to step up his efforts to meet with neighbors about their concerns as it heads back to aldermen.