Monday, May 13, 2013
Developers suspended plans for a 52-feet high apartment building on Underwood Avenue after failing to reach a negotiation for tax incremental financing with the city.
Apartments that were once planned for the former Wauwatosa Fire Station No. 1 site on Underwood Avenue have been suspended by the developer, reported the Business Journal. The proposal of a four story and 52-feet high apartment building adjacent to residential properties brought much outcry from residents who accused the developers, Sean Phelan of Phelan Development and Blair Williams of WiRED Properties, of trying to squeeze every dime of profit out of the project without regard to the character of the surroundings. The developer and the city were negotiating a potential tax incremental financing for the $7.5 million project but the city wasn't fond a TIF financing. The 36-apartment building would have been the tallest building in the …
Thursday, February 14, 2013
Business association and Church Street householders tell city development panel they want a successful mixed-use project but – in the case of the neighbors – not at any price, and not in conflict with city's own master plan.
Calling it a classic "missing teeth" project opportunity, the Village Business Improvement District board has weighed in in favor of a development proposal currently on the table for the iconic Wauwatosa neighborhood. A city lot left vacant and in the city's hands after the new Fire Station No. 1 replaced its aged predecessor should be redeveloped along with a key privately owned neighboring parcel on the corner of Harmonee and Underwood avenues, the BID said in a letter to city officials. That letter, along with testimony from neighbors, was presented Thursday to the Community Development Authority, which took no action to approve or deny any proposals. The Village BID did not go so far as to take a position on the height of the proposed …
Wednesday, January 16, 2013
The city wants to redevelop not only its single vacant lot on Underwood Ave. but another on a key Village corner – but the small business owner of that property is interested in selling only to the developer she trusts.
At first blush, it looks like the kind of scuffle often seen in Wauwatosa and elsewhere when a developer wants to place a new commercial project adjacent to residential properties. Neighbors are shocked at the scale of the proposal and accuse the developer of trying to squeeze every dime of profit out of the project without regard to the character of the surroundings. The developer pleads that the project has to achieve a certain scale to be reasonably profitable at all — and promises that the maximum good to the community comes from maximizing its economic benefits, such as its tax contribution. The municipality plays referee, but even when compromise is reached, seldom does anyone, much less everyone, come away very happy, no matter what…
43.05067
-88.00844
Cody and Company
1457 Underwood Ave, Milwaukee, WI
/articles/salon-owner-holds-key-to-former-firehouse-lot-development
1578621
/locations/8621904
Monday, July 23, 2012
Hip, funky Mojofuco Restaurants would open its first suburban location, a second BelAir Cantina, at 68th and North with assistance of CDBG funds.
One of Milwaukee’s hottest, hippest restaurant groups wants to come to a key location on North Avenue, in what would be its first foray into any suburb — but it needs help from the city to make it work. Mojofuco Restaurants, owners of the Hi-Hat Lounge, The Garage, Fuel Café, Balzac, Palomino and BelAir Cantina, would like to open a second BelAir on the southwest corner of West North Avenue and North 68th Street. “We’re optimistic that we can put this project together,” said Kristian Sydow, vice president of Grubb & Ellis Apex Commercial in Brookfield, who is the commercial real estate broker for the group. “But that’s dependent on some public financing assistance.” Mojofuco owners Kristin St. Dennis, Leslie Montemurro and Scott Johnson …
43.06075
-87.997879
6817 W North Ave, Wauwatosa, WI
Location restaurant group is seeking for a second BelAir Cantina on North Avenue in East Tosa
/articles/mojofuco-hopes-to-bring-belair-cantina-to-wauwatosa
/locations/7483175
Monday, July 9, 2012
Discussion and any action on Walnut Road route through western Wauwatosa now expected to take place July 17 prior to regular Common Council meeting.
A discussion of the route of one of two new power lines in west Tosa – possibly the last public discussion – has been delayed a week, city officials said Monday. After a recommendation from the Community Development Committee was put off at its last meeting, on June 26, it was expected to revisited and likely acted on at the committee's next meeting, at 8 p.m. Tuesday. But Ald. Jeff Roznowski, the committee chairman, said Monday that the power line discussion had been taken off this week's agenda and would be dealt with the following Tuesday, July 17, before the regular meeting of the full council. The debate is now planned for a meeting of the Committee of the Whole at 6 p.m. the following week, prior to the regular 7:30 p.m. meeting of …
Tuesday, June 19, 2012
Alderman says he will again vote against appropriations cut by the federal government but doled out by the city, and that it may be time for Wauwatosa to take its own responsibility for assisting independently living seniors.
Ald. Pete Donegan (1st District) is vowing to maintain his opposition Tuesday night on the Common Council to cuts in Community Development Block Grant funding to the Hart Park Senior Center. He's also questioning some past and current practices in how CDBG funds are doled out and used, and he says if he doesn't prevail in restoring funding to the senior center – and maybe even if he does – he'll raise the question of changing how the center is funded, possibly be having the city take over direct responsibility. Donegan cast a lone "protest vote" last week in the Buget and Finance Committee after learning that federal CDBG funding to Wauwatosa through the Housing and Urban Development Department would fall 21 percent below what was expected…
Wednesday, March 14, 2012
Plan for auto parts store in former Blockbuster building advances strongly on two key votes and is virtually certain to pass the full Common Council next week, as citizens, city can find no basis for denying or delaying it.
- GOVERNMENT
- Jim Price
-
Wednesday, March 14, 2012
"Sausage-making at it's finest." So said Ald. Craig Wilson shortly after midnight Wednesday, when a meeting that started at 8 p.m. Tuesday finally adjourned. The process was more akin to the emulsification of an issue – although the end product still strongly resembled its beginnings. After marathon hearings on consecutive nights, a conditional use permit for an O'Reilly Auto Parts store at 6102 W. North Ave. marched forward toward final approval next week before the Common Council. On Monday, the request received a unanimous thumbs-up from the Wauwatosa Plan Commission. Tuesday night, it earned a second strong recommendation from the Community Development Committee, polling 4-2 for approval. But those solid votes in favor came only after …
Thursday, February 2, 2012
Tonight's Design Review Board meeting just the first of a number of upcoming hearings.
- GOVERNMENT
- Jim Price
-
Thursday, February 2, 2012
A series of public meetings on plans for the first elements of UWM's Innovation Park begins this evening and continues through the month. The Design Review Board will discuss plans for the UWM "accelerator" at 7 p.m. in Committee Room 1 at City Hall. Next, discussions of infrastructure are expected to be on the agenda for the Board of Public Works at 8:30 a.m. Monday. Items from those meetings can be introduced to the full Common Council at 6:30 p.m. Tuesday, but not for public comment. UWM then is expected to go before the Plan Commission at 7 p.m. Feb. 13 and the Community Developent Committee at 8 p.m. Feb. 28. Innovation Park is considered one of the largest and most significant developments to occur not only in Wauwatosa but in the …
43.060733
-88.009239
Wauwatosa City Hall
7725 W North Ave, Wauwatosa, WI
Design Review Board hearing on UWM Innovation Park, 7 p.m.
/articles/public-meetings-on-innovation-park
1580115
/locations/6302794
Tuesday, November 8, 2011
With ouster of Nancy Welch, Paulette Enders adds Community Development functions to Economic Development role.
For more than a year since her hiring, Tosa Economic Development Director Paulette Enders has run a department of one — herself. Earlier this year, with strong backing of City Administrator Jim Archambo, she asked the Common Council for one staff member, a business specialist, to assist her. The council tabled the request, citing economic restraints. Suddenly, Enders has a staff of 12. With the negotiated layoff Friday of former Community Development Director Nancy Welch, Enders has inherited most of the duties of that department, and she is likely to keep them. An interim plan to cover Welch's absence puts all of the functions of Community Development under Enders' watch for at least two months. Archambo also presented the Employee …
Monday, November 7, 2011
Nobody is talking about why she was terminated; public works and economic development departments will take over interim responsibilities.
After 10 years on the job, Wauwatosa Community Development Director Nancy Welch has been removed from her city post. An e-mail from City Administrator Jim Archambo that was sent to city aldermen Friday afternoon said Welch had been permanently laid off "in anticipation of restructuring the position." Welch's department includes the divisions of planning and zoning and of building and safety. She had also been responsible for physical plant maintenance. In the interim, Archambo said, building maintenance was being assigned to Public Works Director Bill Porter, while planning and building inspections will be the responsibility of Economic Development Director Paulette Enders. Archambo told council members that Welch had received a …
Getitright
9:43 am on Wednesday, May 15, 2013
Furthermore, the most 'whining' seemed to be coming from Pete Donegan and NOT because he was protecting his constituents as he would have you believe. His only concern seemed to be WHO was doing the project and NOT what they were actually doing. Had his buddy been given the opportunity to develop that corner it would have been 2 blocks long and five stories high! more ›