Still Far to Go, But Early Alterra Plan Earns Two Thumbs Up

An Alterra Café proposed for the southeast corner on North 68th and West Wells streets twice earned unanimous support in consecutive city planning meetings this week.

The café would currently slated for the 0.34-acre site at 6745 W. Wells. The Hyde Park condo project never took off due to the recession, and the property has sat idle since a medical clinic building on the property was shuttered nearly a decade ago. 

The preliminary plan for the proposed 3,200-square-foot café will go to the Common Council next Tuesday. If the project continues to receive city support, Alterra plans to buy the site and begin construction in spring 2012.

The project first won approval from the Plan Commission Monday, and then from the Community Development Committee on Tuesday. Ald. Donald Birschel, a member of both planning groups, said an Alterra Café was a welcome and preferred alternative to the Hyde Park condo project that met with strenuous objections during the four-year course it took until it was approved in October 2010.

In contrast, Birschel and his fellow committee members said Tuesday they have heard nearly unanimous support for the Alterra proposal.

“The neighbors are doing handsprings because the condos ... are no longer going to be there,” Birschel said.

Committee members said they had received many emails in support of the Alterra proposal, with only a few citing concern for existing bakery and coffee shop businesses in the small commercial district.

New competition “certainly is not a reason to deny this,” said committee member Ald. Jeffrey Roznowski. An Alterra Café, he said, likely will become a “go-to” place that will draw new traffic to the neighborhood and have a ripple effect in bolstering existing businesses in the district.

The calls for demolishing the old clinic and building a single-story structure that would use a mix of materials to blend with both the commercial district to the north and single-family residences to the south and east, said developer Sean Phelan, of Phelan Development, LLC, of Milwaukee. The north portion of the L-shaped building would feature masonry and brick, and the south portion of the building would be wood.

The café’s indoor seating capacity will be about 60 to 70, and includes an indoor/outdoor area with large glass panels that can fully open in good weather to create sheltered, open-air seating. Outdoor courtyard seating for up to 35 also is planned. The café front would hug the southeast corner of the site, closest to the business district. A 19-vehicle parking lot is planned for the east side and rear of the building, and a bicycle lot in the courtyard seating area.

The more detailed plans — adressing entry-exit, stormwater and fence screening issues, for example — will go to the Design Review Board before returning to the committee and Common Council for review of final design plans.

If construction begins in spring 2012, the café could open by late October 2012, Alterra has said. The café would create 15 full-time equivalent positions, and would be staffed with three to six employees at any given time. The café hours would be 6:30 a.m. to 10 p.m. weekdays, and 7 a.m. to 10 p.m. on weekends.