Walker’s Point apartment project still on hold
City raze order hangs over Barclay conversion
A planned conversion of three former Walker’s Point industrial buildings to high-end apartments remains on hold, with a city raze order still hanging over the project.
Minneapolis-based Sherman Associates Inc. plans to convert the Milwaukee buildings at 300 S. Barclay St., 305 S. Barclay St. and 139 E. Oregon St. into a 115-unit apartment community, known as The Barclay.
Those renovations were to begin a year ago after Sherman was to secure its construction financing. But that work hasn’t yet started.
And, in February, the Milwaukee Department of Neighborhood Services issued an order to either repair the buildings or demolish them.
Typically, the department issues orders to raze dilapidated buildings without the option of making repairs. But city officials would rather see the three buildings redeveloped.
The order was issued to ensure the buildings undergo the planned renovations with the proper environmental protections. The buildings were used for several decades to make pigments.
Sherman’s appeal of that order was
to be reviewed Thursday, said Kail Decker, an assistant city attorney.
But that hearing has been postponed for up to six months while Sherman continues to work on a plan to do an environmental cleanup and redevelop the property, Decker said.
Sherman has been actively developing that plan, which also needs review by the Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources and U.S. Environmental Protection Agency.
“We thought it was worth it to give them a chance to work it out,” Decker said about the postponement.
Sherman is working with city officials to redevelop the property, said Michael Maistelman, an attorney for the firm.
Sherman hopes to get the project underway, and start accepting lease applications, by late spring or early summer of 2019, he said.
The buildings, south of East Oregon Street on both sides of South Barclay Street, are part of the former Pittsburgh Plate Glass complex. A five-story building is east of South Barclay Street, with two connected three-story buildings on the street’s other side.
Sherman’s other projects include The Oaks of Shorewood, a four-story, 101-unit apartment building for seniors, which is finishing construction at 3900 E. Estabrook Parkway, Shorewood.