Two small apartment developments are proceeding on Downer Avenue
Fall opening is expected for some of the housing
Two small apartment developments are proceeding on North Downer Avenue on Milwaukee’s east side, with some of the units to open this fall.
The projects, totaling 17 apartments, are being developed by Seattle-based Bridge33 Capital LLC, which owns much of the historic Downer Avenue Commercial District.
One project is converting former second-floor office space above Optix on Downer and the long-vacant Chancery restaurant into 13 apartments.
Those one-bedroom apartments will have an address of 2577 N. Downer Ave.
They will range from 457 square feet to 945 square feet, said Alex Banchero, who oversees asset management and leasing at Bridge33 Capital.
“Each unit is quite unique because we had to fit it within the context of the historic structure,” Banchero told the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel.
Those renovations started this year, with the apartments to be completed by October, he said.
Meanwhile, Bridge33 Capital has started work on developing four town homes at 2604 E. Park Place, at the corner of Park Place and Downer Avenue.
Those units will each have two bedrooms, and range from 1,200 square feet and 1.5 bathrooms to 1,700 square feet with 2.5 bathrooms, Banchero said.
The larger town homes will feature a lofted third-floor family room. All four units will include a two-car garage.
The new building’s design will reflect “architectural details from the existing neighborhood,” Banchero said.
The town homes are to be completed by April. They are replacing a three-unit apartment building that was razed after being badly damaged in a 2019 fire.
The development is among a series of new town homes coming to such Milwaukee neighborhoods as the east side, downtown, Riverwest, Bay View and Halyard Park.
Town home construction is driven by demand from families with children who want to live in urban neighborhoods.
Bridge33 Capital in 2020 bought the building at 2551-2597 N. Downer Ave., which includes the apartment renovation project, and a building at 26082650 N. Downer Ave. for $11.25 million.
The buildings total around 61,000 square feet.
Their tenants include Starbucks, Boswell Book Co., Downer Theatre, Pizza Man restaurant and Henry’s Pub and Grille on the west side of Downer Avenue, and Cafe Hollander, Downer Cleaners, Breadsmith, Downer Wine & Spirits and Stone Creek Coffee on the street’s east side.
“We are attracted to the vibrancy of the Downer corridor, its historic surroundings and strong growth as the economy continues to recover,” Banchero said.