Delayed high-rise could be nearing good news
Ald. Bauman is skeptical of Couture proposal
The Couture high-rise proposal, which has faced a series of delays, could be the subject of some good news within a month or so.
That’s according to comments from city officials at a Wednesday meeting of the Common Council’s Public Works Committee.
Lori Lutzka, a Department of City Development projects manager, and Jeff Polenske, public works commissioner, both told committee members they expect to soon have “something positive to report,” to use Lutzka’s words.
That information regarding the Couture’s financing package is expected by late June or early July, they said.
Ald. Robert Bauman, committee chair, responded skeptically — based on conversations he’s had with outside developers, and with executives from Baird & Co., the project’s financing consultant.
“No developer in Milwaukee thinks this building is buildable,” Bauman said.
Bauman also said the comments from Mayor Tom Barrett’s administration in support of the Couture amounted to “propaganda.”
“We have a difference of opinion,” responded Lutzka, who said she understood Bauman’s frustration.
Couture developer Richard Barrett said through a spokesman that he had nothing additional to say at this time about the project.
The 44-story building, 909 E. Michigan St., is to include 322 high-end apartments, 52,000 square feet of restaurant and retail space and a transit concourse featuring the new downtown streetcar, known as The Hop.
Development firm Barrett Lo Visionary Development LLC, working with Baird & Co., in December received a preliminary commitment to complete its equity financing.
If that agreement is finalized, Barrett Lo could then reapply for a loan guarantee from the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development to complete the financing package.
The $122 million Couture had secured a loan guarantee in 2018. But it expired in July when the project was unable to land enough equity investors.
“It’s very difficult to raise tens of millions of dollars of equity,” Lutzka told committee members.
And that’s especially true in Milwaukee, where investment returns are lower than they would be for similar projects in coastal cities, she said.
Barrett is in “active negotiations with that last equity piece,” Lutzka said.
The Couture’s delay has affected completion of The Hop’s lakefront loop.
Barrett Lo bought the project site from Milwaukee County at a discounted price, with the city committing $17.5 million to pay for the Couture’s public improvements — including a transit concourse for The Hop and bus lines.
That concourse is needed to complete the streetcar’s lakefront loop by connecting parallel tracks on Michigan and Clybourn streets.
The loop was financed in part with a $14.2 million federal grant. The city could be forced to repay that money to the Federal Transit Administration if the loop isn’t completed.
Also, county taxpayers could be forced to pay $6.7 million to the FTA if the Couture and its transit concourse aren’t built. That’s because the agency provided a 1988 grant to finance the county bus facility that Barrett Lo demolished in 2017 to make way for the Couture.