Bay View apartments would add public plaza
Developers say it will improve walkability
A Bay View apartment development would include a pedestrian plaza on what is now a city street under a new proposal.
New Land Enterprises LLP wants to convert less than one block of East Archer Avenue, just east of South Kinnickinnic Avenue, into what the firm is calling Archer Plaza.
The plaza would be just south of a six-story, 144-unit apartment building that New Land plans to build at what’s now a vacant restaurant site, at 2130 S. Kinnickinnic Ave. The plaza also would connect to the city-owned Zillman Park.
Archer Plaza would make the area better for walking and biking, said Tim Gokhman, New Land co-owner.
Archer Avenue doesn’t have sidewalks and is often used by drivers taking a shortcut between Kinnickinnic Avenue and East Ward Street, he said.
Also, the plaza would improve the apartment building’s 16,000 square feet of street-level commercial space, Gokhman said. That space will likely include a restaurant facing the proposed plaza, he said.
Finally, it would provide an opportunity to improve Zillman Park, which Gokhman said is now underused. “It just needs some TLC,” he said. Traffic on Archer Avenue would be rerouted on a new road that would connect one block north to East Bay Street, Gokhman said.
The pedestrian plaza, which is still at the conceptual stage, would need Common Council approval. The Plan Commission is scheduled to review the proposal at its June 25 meeting.
The council and Mayor Tom Barrett last summer approved New Land’s planned apartment building.
That development site will include homes at 310-312, 316-320 and 324 E. Archer Ave. that New Land has purchased, along with the former Hamburger Mary’s building.
Demolition is to begin in July, with a groundbreaking on the development planned for August, Gokhman said. The building is to be completed by spring 2020.