Senior housing OK’d at site of St. Rita Church

An east side Milwaukee church would be replaced with a new development that provides senior housing, as well as worship space, under a proposal that received unanimous Plan Commission approval Monday.

St. Rita Catholic Church, 1601 N. Cass St., is being sold to a group led by developer James Tarantino.

Tarantino, who operates Tarantino & Co. and Capri Senior Communities, plans to develop the apartments and church on a 1.1-acre site north of E. Pleasant St., between N. Cass and N. Van Buren streets.

The church and its former school, along with two houses, are to be demolished.

The apartments, known as St. Rita’s Square, would feature two six-story buildings, separated by a courtyard, totaling 118 apartments for seniors, said Tarantino. His firms operates 16 other senior apartment communities throughout southeastern Wisconsin.

One building would have 72 apartments for seniors who can live independently. The other would have 20 assist-

ed living apartments and 26 units for people who need memory care.

St. Rita’s Square would include 70 enclosed parking spaces for employees and residents who can live independently. It would have amenities such as a fitness center and a pub.

The development also would provide a new church, to be connected to one of the apartment buildings.

The new church would have better accessibility than the current building, which has steps that some older parish members have difficulty using, Tarantino told Plan Commission members.

There are plans to use a nearby 40-space parking lot in connection with the church’s Sunday services, said architect Eric Harmon, of A.G. Architecture.

That lot would mainly be used by the neighboring Cass Street School for staff parking during the weekdays.

Three Holy Women Parish, which includes St. Rita, would buy the new church for $1 — the same sum Tarantino is paying to acquire the current church property.

The new St. Rita church would preserve art, stained glass and other artifacts from St. Rita, which was was built in 1939, and Blessed Virgin of Pompeii Church, which was in the Historic Third Ward before it was demolished in 1967.

It has design influences from both churches, with a “contemporary Mediterranean look,” Tarantino said.

Pompeii Church’s razing, to make way for I-794, was devastating to Milwaukee’s Italian-American community, said the Rev. Tim Kitzke, St. Rita co-pastor.

St. Rita’s Square also will need Common Council

approval.