‘I’m going ahead’
‘I’m angry at this thing. And I’m flying in the face of it.’
A Milwaukee developer could have delayed two new projects because of the pandemic. He’s not.
When the coronavirus pandemic began wreaking economic turmoil, Milwaukee developer Robert Joseph could have delayed starting work on his latest apartment building.
Instead, foundation piles are being driven into the Historic Third Ward site where that building will begin rising later this year.
Joseph also decided not to halt interior demolition work, which started recently, on preparing a historic Walker's Point warehouse for conversion to apartments.
“I'm going ahead,” said Joseph, who operates Joseph Property Development LLC.
“You have to sort of grit your teeth and go against your natural instincts, which is to pull in the reins,” Joseph told the Journal Sentinel.
Both developments, a six-story, 60-unit building that is being constructed at 323 N. Jefferson St., and the conversion of a four-story industrial building, built in 1873, into the 40-unit Cream City Lofts Lofts, at 170 S. Second St., are exempt from Gov. Tony Evers' order issued March 24 that shut down many
Wisconsin businesses.
That order excludes some construction projects, including housing developments.
Joseph said workers on both projects are using social distancing and other guidelines from the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention to operate safely during the pandemic.
So far, there aren’t a lot of workers involved.
The Third Ward site is a crew of two people driving piles. The Walker’s Point site has around 10 workers removing old interior furnishings.
With both projects in the beginning stages, Joseph could have easily suspended work.
Dozens of Milwaukee-area construction projects have been caught at major stages as the pandemic hit.
Their developers say it would be very difficult and expensive to stop working, with some projects left exposed to the elements. Projects that are left unfinished also can raise safety concerns.
“We really have to protect the general public,” said Dan Bukiewicz, president of the Milwaukee Building & Construction Trades Council, which represents 10,000 local union construction workers.
Joseph is moving ahead in part because he wants to keep his firm’s subcontractors employed on both projects.
He also wants his company’s 25 or so employees, which includes apartment building maintenance workers, to keep working.
And, Joseph believes both projects will provide attractive apartments in good locations — and will be successful when finished in about a year or so.
But, with the U.S. economy plunging into a recession, and a lot of uncertainty about the pandemic’s duration, there’s no way to know for sure what the world will be like in spring 2021.
For Joseph, it’s somewhat similar to his Jackson Square Apartments, a development he started building in 2009 — during the nation’s worst recession since the Great Depression.
“It was a big risk for me, and for my company,” Joseph said.
The 81-unit Jackson Square, at 159 N.
Jackson St., was initially designed as condominiums.
But when the housing bubble burst in 2007, leading to the global economic meltdown in 2008, it was recast as apartments.
Jackson Square opened in spring 2011 — just as demand was starting to rise for new high-end rental units in the Milwaukee area.
Still, when construction started, Joseph didn’t know for sure that the economy would be recovering by the time Jackson Square was completed. And its construction started during a time when other developments were on hold.
Fast forward to the current pandemic, with businesses closing, and unemployment spiking.
Joseph, whose portfolio includes several Third Ward properties, took a recent walk through the neighborhood.
It reminded him of what the Third Ward was like in 2001, when he first began investing there..
“Nobody was there,” he said. “It was a ghost town.”
The streets are also quiet in Walker’s Point, where Joseph’s other apartment development is proceeding.
But Joseph isn’t second guessing his decision to proceed.
In a stroke of good timing, his firm finished two other major projects months before the pandemic hit: Contour, a sixstory, 88-unit building at 2111 E. Ivanhoe Place, and Greenbelt Apartments, three buildings totaling 160 units at 5204 S. 76th St., Greendale.
Joseph also last year landed the Wahlburgers restaurant chain as the streetlevel tenant for a four-story produce warehouse he redeveloped into retail and office space, at 322 N. Broadway. That Third Ward building is leased out except for its second floor.
In addition, it’s easier for Joseph to go forward on both projects when the equity cash is coming from just one source instead of several investors.
“I’m the equity investor,” Joseph said. Also, Joseph said, his firm has enjoyed good relationships with two local lenders: Park Bank and First Business Bank.
Finally, there’s a bit defiance involved in his decision.
“I’m angry at this thing,” Joseph said about the pandemic. “And I’m flying in the face of it. When it’s done, we’re going to make it work.”