Apartment Building Plans Proposed for Old Firehouse Lot Suspended

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 …

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Hawthorne Terrace Ends 'Elderly Only' Status

With amended land-use agreement, owners can rent units in former middle school building to anyone without age restriction.

The owners of Hawthorne Terrace apartments, once Hawthorne Middle School, have been given permission by the city to remove the limitation of renting to "elderly persons" only. A modification of the owners' land-use agreement opens the apartments to applicants of all ages. The Wauwatosa Community Development Authority granted the request Monday in a unanimous vote, and no further approvals from the city are required. Since 1985, when the agreement was first put in place to complete the redevelopment from school to senior apartments, with "pass-through" bonding assistance from what was then Wauwatosa Housing Authority, Hawthorne Terrace has been identified as an independent living center for older adults. Up to now, the owners, the Reilly-…

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City Panel Revisits 4 Stories for Firehouse Plot, with No TIF Funds

Village development contingencies are turned around, with a recessed fourth story again under consideration but no application for tax-incremental financing.

Negotiations will continue toward finding a way to redevelop the city-owned former firehouse lot in the Village, but a new set of parameters emerged Monday after a closed session of the Community Development Authority. After earlier rejecting a four-story mixed-use development plan in favor of three stories to satisfy the concerns of neighbors, a fourth story is now back on the table as an option – but only if the upper story is set back so that it is less visible to neighbors. And after also indicating earlier that limited tax-incremental financing through the city was a possibility to help fill a gap in the project's finance plan, the authority now says no TIF funding should involved. With little to no appetite shown by the Common …

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Salvation Seems Possible for Eschweiler Buildings

With UWM Foundation prepared to lease the historic structures to the Forest Exploration Center for a charter school, the way could be paved to allow both preservation and surrounding development.

While there are still pieces that need to fall into place, in both the short and long term, plans are coming together to make possible the preservation and restoration of the historic Eschweiler Buildings. After months of discussions, the UWM Real Estate Foundation is nearly ready to sign a lease with the Forest Exploration Center, under Executive Director John Gee, to work toward occupying the buildings with a charter school. Gee said Monday that while there are still some details to work out, he's preparing to go to his board of directors on March 6 to ask for two actions: If that sounds like it's pretty much a done deal, it isn't quite. The lease isn't signed yet, and Gee said it would be the end of this week before the final terms are …

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anita

1:15 pm on Monday, April 29, 2013

Yes, they have been unfairly neglected. Kind of infuriating.   more ›

City Set to Turn Away Chain Restaurants from East Tosa

Zoning change would prohibit new 'formula' establishments from coming in to district between 60th and 76th streets on North Avenue.

Village BID, Neighbors Weigh In on Old Firehouse Plan

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 …

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Week Ahead: Qdoba Coming to Village; 2 Panels to Consider TIF Changes

New businesses and changing businesses are on the agenda, and plans push forward for UWM's Innovation Campus.

Change being the only constant, Wauwatosa will this week consider alterations of operators, of occupancy, of hours, building sites and of public investment in a variety of business developments. The Plan Commission, meeting at 7 p.m. Monday, will hear requests to open a Qdoba restaurant in the Village, for extended hours at the Rosebud Cinema, a turnover of Hawks Nursery operations to Stein Gardens & Gifts, and an amendment of a tax-incremental finance plan to allow investment of TIF funds for private parking stalls on UWM's Innovation Campus. Qdoba wants to open in the retail and office center at 1417 Wauwatosa Ave. anchored by Starbuck's at one end and by Baskin-Robbins and Breadsmith at the other. Qdoba is asking for a conditional use …

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Parking Is Paramount in UWM Project and Eschweilers' Future

Innovation? Bah.... History? Bunk.... In this day and age, where to park your car appears still to be the overriding concern when it comes to getting down to business.

In a far-ranging discussion Tuesday night of the city's part in UWM's Innovation Campus, and in the related fate of the historic Eschweiler buildings, Wauwatosa's Common Council finally got the word on what's really driving this bus. That word is: Parking. As with so many urban development plans, the mundane problem of providing enough parking emerged on the County Grounds projects. But here, the matter is so complex that whether the Eschweilers are saved or demolished in a redevelopment plan, or even whether any redevelopment of their grounds can proceed at all, is tightly tied to how parking is handled on the rest of the UWM Real Estate Foundation's property. At the same time, providing public financing for private developers to have …

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Deb Strzelecki

10:38 am on Saturday, January 26, 2013

Ester: I was active in the original "Save The County Grounds" back in the 90s. I so wish I had saved the JS article back when it was proclaimed that the MKE County Board had made their "final" vote that would only allow development to 10% of the entire "NE Quadrant" and any development would be limited to along Plank Rd. and Swan Blvd. The remaining 90+ acres were being considered for a state …   more ›

Salon Owner Holds Key to Developing Old Firehouse Lot

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…

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Study Supports Developer's Conclusions on Eschweiler Costs

Consultants hired to analyze Mandel Group's projected costs and return on investment in either preserving or demolishing historic buildings are about on target, they say. But that might not satisfy everyone.

A consultant's draft study, commissioned by the city, by and large supports the cost analysis presented by Mandel Group last year for a residential development on the campus of the historic Eschweiler Buildings. Essentially, the study concludes that preserving and rehabilitating the Eschweilers as part of the development would by economically infeasible for the developer, with a "financing gap" of $6.5 million. Demolishing all but one of the historic buildings and using only new construction for apartments, as Mandel has proposed, would be feasible, the study found – but still, only with some level of public financing assistance. The actual difference in total project costs with available financing between the two proposals is about $4.25 …

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