Form follows function in UCC construction
By Steve Jagler, of SBT
If the United Community Center seems to be in perpetual construction mode on Milwaukee’s near south side, that’s because it is. The UCC opened a new lobby, a Latino art gallery and an auditorium on its campus at 1028 S. Ninth St. in May.
Construction has begun this summer on the $3 million UCC Alternative Middle School and Human Services Building at the corner of South Sixth Street and West Washington Street.
Meanwhile, the UCC has purchased a 14-unit apartment complex along South Seventh Street, south of West Scott Street. The UCC plans a $250,000 rehabilitation project to upgrade the apartments.
"That’s very exciting for us. It needs a new roof, new windows, new furnaces, lighting. It’s a total gut rehab," said Ricardo Diaz, who took over as executive director of the UCC this summer.
The apartment project will be done as an "intervention," as the UCC must protect the value of properties in the Walker’s Square neighborhood, Diaz said.
"If you allow a 14-unit apartment building to continue without the appropriate management, you will have a nightmare, in terms of the impact it would have in the neighborhood," Diaz said. "We want facilities to have the highest standard possible. We’re taking properties, we’re uplifting them, and we’re helping to lift up the overall value of the neighborhood."
The UCC’s proactive approach is paying off. The rate of owner-occupied homeownership in the Walker’s Square neighborhood has increased from 60% to 80% in the past five years.
The UCC has grown to include more than $20 million in real estate development, spanning more than 200,000 square feet, and has more than 200 employees.
The expansions at the UCC are in step with the growth of the Hispanic population in the region. From 1990 to 2000, Wisconsin’s Latino population more than doubled (107%), according to the US Census Bureau.
The Latino population is the fastest-growing ethnic segment in the state, and the private sector is finally beginning to tap into the growth of Latino consumers in the area, Diaz said.
Most of the construction work at the UCC has been performed by Waukesha-based Voss Jorgensen Schueler Co., and designed by architect John Yost of Waukesha-based J&V Affiliated LLC. Yost recently won special recognition from the AIA Wisconsin, a chapter of the American Institute of Architects, for his design of the UCC’s parking lot beneath Interstate 94.
Indeed, form follows function for construction at the ever-evolving UCC.
All of the buildings and all of the programs at the UCC focus on Diaz’s mission of providing a safe location to help more people of Milwaukee’s Hispanic community enter America’s middle class of productive citizens.
"Today, we have over 1,000 people a day coming in here for all different purposes. It’s multipurpose, it’s multigenerational," Diaz said. "I want to see in Milwaukee, when I leave here, that we expand the numbers of Hispanics as lawyers and bankers and other professionals. We want to create middle-class consumers, people who participate in the American system."
The new art gallery and auditorium are a showcase for Latino Arts Inc., a nonprofit agency that provides cultural performances, visual arts and education at the UCC.
Diaz succeeded Walter Sava, who now serves as the executive director of Latino Arts.
The UCC campus has grown to include the UCC Middle School, the Bruce Guadalupe Elementary School and Preschool, two gymnasiums, the UCC Senior Center, the UCC Residential Treatment Center and Adult Day Center, the Café El Sol restaurant, the UCC-US Bank Village, a boxing ring, a new teen computer center and many other buildings and rooms that provide a variety of services to the neighborhood.
Just as children from the south side of the city are attracted to the UCC, the elderly also are finding plenty of activities at the growing campus.
"We will acquire additional properties for senior housing. That whole elderly area is an area that you will see us grow," Diaz said.
One of the newer developments is a fitness center, which has grown to 1,100 members of all ages and socioeconomic backgrounds.
Further, Diaz is looking for a local banking partner to create a "Kids Bank," in which youth will deposit their allowances and other income to build their savings and learn the value of money and education. Youth also will organize and operate the bank.
"We certainly want to make sure that we get as many people as we can into the middle class," Diaz said. "I think that’s a very important role for us to play. We’re focusing on test scores and what our kids have to do to participate in the American economy. This is a good investment."
July 25, 2003 Small Business Times, Milwaukee
