Former east side store converting to apartments
Developer taking on Humboldt Avenue projects is learning as he goes, adding to neighborhood vibe
After Zach Eberhardt bought a historic building on Milwaukee’s east side, he noticed various items — Brillo pads, hardware, Band-Aids and even unopened boxes of crackers — that were left behind from its long-ago days as a neighborhood grocery.
“When I took over, it was like walking back in time,” he said. “There was still product sitting on the shelf.”
More than a year later, Eberhardt is converting the three-story building, which had retail space and three twobedroom apartments, into five twobedroom apartments and a sixth unit with one bedroom. He also is renovating a neighboring duplex.
The result: eight refurbished highend apartments in a neighborhood, centered on East Brady Street, that has seen several other new developments.
It’s also the biggest project so far for Eberhardt, an Army veteran and real estate broker who’s learning to be a developer.
“I’ve done duplexes in the past,” he said. “But nothing like eight units.”
Eberhardt’s investment group, Vetspark 1 LLC, bought the three-story
brick building, 1816-1822 N. Humboldt Ave., and a single-story wood frame duplex, 1824 N. Humboldt Ave., for $225,000 in March 2017, according to city assessment records.
The larger building was constructed in 1894 and was designed in the Dutch Colonial Revival style, according to the Wisconsin Historical Society. The duplex dates to 1910, according to city records.
Both buildings were in rough shape, Eberhardt said. Much of his work involved removing debris and obsolete fixtures.
That included an old commercial bakery oven pulled from the three-story building. Michalak’s Food Market, along with a bakery, operated there for decades, before the grocery store closed in 1989.
However, Eberhardt is keeping the grocery’s former butcher block. He wants to somehow blend it into the renovated building’s interior design.
Plumbing, electrical and heating systems are being replaced. He’s adding new windows, new internal walls and, at the duplex, a new roof and new siding.
The finished apartments will include stainless steel kitchen appliances and granite countertops, in-unit washers and dryers, outdoor decks and natural gas fireplaces that Eberhardt hopes evoke a Wisconsin Northwoods ambiance.
“Like Camp Bar,” he said.
The apartments are around 1,200 square feet, and in the three-story building have ceiling heights ranging from around 12 to 15 feet. Eberhardt declined to disclose his prospective rents.
The units, all with two bathrooms, will target couples who want to live near downtown.
The location, just a block or so north of East Brady Street’s restaurants, taverns and stores, is strong, Eberhardt said.
The two adjacent properties include enough room to provide an off-street parking lot for the residents, as well as a small back yard that he plans to landscape.
“It’s so tranquil back here,” Eberhardt said while showing the property.
While Eberhardt’s largest project, it’s much smaller than other nearby apartment developments that are capitalizing on their location on or near Brady Street.
Those include the 243-unit River House, 1781 N. Water St., which opened in the spring and summer of 2017; The Easton, a five-story, 96-unit development that is to open in February at 1632 N. Franklin Place; Nine10 at Land Place, a five-story, 30-unit building under construction at 910 E. Land Place; and the three-story, 23-unit Keystone on Brady, 1701 N. Humboldt Blvd., which was completed in August.
Eberhardt is working with an architect, Striegel-Agacki Studio Inc., but is doing much of the construction work himself.
“I traded a desk job for swinging a hammer,” he said.
That was just the latest transition for Eberhardt, who joined the Army after graduating in 2000 from Racine’s Horlick High School.
Eberhardt, a Ranger, saw combat in both Afghanistan and Iraq before he was discharged in 2004. During his down time, he read books about investing in real estate.
“You’ve got nothing but time when you’re between missions,” Eberhardt said.
In 2005, he bought a duplex in Milwaukee’s Harambee neighborhood, at 2866 N. Palmer St.
Eberhardt learned a lot, including basic carpentry and techniques for analyzing costs and benefits.
He also used the G.I. Bill to attend University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee, where he earned his bachelor’s degree in sociology in 2009.
Eberhardt worked in real estate sales at CBRE Inc. and Shorewest Realtors before taking a similar job at Dominion Properties.
He helped locate new project sites for Dominion, which develops and operates apartments on Milwaukee’s east side.
Meanwhile, Eberhardt bought and renovated another duplex in the Brewers Hill neighborhood at 219 E. Lloyd St.
He and his wife, Andrea, were living there when he learned about the two Humboldt Avenue buildings that were for sale.
The couple sold the Brewers Hill duplex to help finance the Humboldt Avenue purchase.
They lived in the larger building for as long as they could while renovating the duplex, preparing the first unit as their new home.
In January, though, the old heating system stopped working, and the couple fled “like hurricane victims” to the Knickerbocker Hotel until they were able to move into the duplex, Eberhardt said.
The duplex’s other unit will be available for rent in July, Eberhardt said. The first apartments at the three-story building likely will be available by August and September.
Meanwhile, he’s enjoying his budding career as a developer.
“I like to build,” Eberhardt said.
Tom Daykin can be emailed at tdaykin@jrn.com and followed on Instagram, Twitter and Facebook.