Historic downtown building faces redevelopment

A well-known historic building on downtown Milwaukee’s east side could be undergoing a major redevelopment.

Michael Levine isn’t yet disclosing his specific plans for the building he operates at the southeast corner of East Wisconsin Avenue and North Broadway.

He had been scheduled to appear before the city Historic Preservation Commission on Monday to get some guidance before deciding whether to proceed. But that item was removed from the agenda on Wednesday because Levine had a scheduling conflict.

“I’m just trying to be respectful of the opinions of the HPC as this project gets planned,” Levine said in a Journal Sentinel interview before the agenda was revised.

The project, if it occurs, would be “a win for downtown,” he said.

The redevelopment plan focuses on a three-story, 51,900-square-foot building, 301-315 E. Wisconsin Ave., according to the commission’s agenda.

The building was constructed in 1891, according to city assessment records.

It’s best known for such street-level commercial tenants as Powers Jewelry Designers and Amilinda restaurant. Much of the upper floors are vacant.

Levine, an attorney, in 2007 proposed demolishing the building for an office tower. That project was dropped after the 2008 recession and global financial crisis.

Levine said Wednesday his new plans involve a historic rehab of the building. The property is next to two

other historic buildings he operates, at 618-624 and 626-628 N. Broadway.

He’s seeking early feedback from the preservation commission to avoid the battle that occurred in late 2010 and early 2011 over the nearby Marriott hotel project.

“I don’t want a confrontational project,” he said. The Marriott was approved by the Common Council on Jan. 19, 2011 — 77 days after the proposal was filed by the hotel’s developers, a group led by Ed Carow and Mark Flaherty.

Carow and Flaherty initially had proposed demolishing a group of buildings on East Wisconsin Avenue and North Milwaukee Street.

The 19th century structures were part of the East Side Commercial Historic District — the same historic district that includes Levine’s buildings. And it was Levine who assembled the site for the Marriott with properties owned by his family.

The Marriott developers said the buildings proposed for demolition largely had been vacant for years and didn’t have substantial historic or architectural value.

At a December 2010 hearing, the commission allowed demolition of the historic buildings, but only if the facades were preserved and blended into the new hotel.

A revised proposal that included just the Wisconsin Avenue facades was approved in January 2011 by the commission and the Common Council.

The 205-room Marriott, blending those facades into new construction, opened in 2013 at 323 E. Wisconsin Ave.