A Milwaukee developer is eyeing an 11-acre parcel of vacant land on South 27th Street in Greenfield for up to 250 market rate apartments.
Fiduciary Real Estate Development is in talks with Todd Reardon, the owner of Braeger Ford and Braeger Chevrolet, to purchase the property northwest of 27th Street and Cold Spring Road, just west of the Braeger Ford auto dealership at 4201 S. 27th St.
The preliminary plan for the development is to build 220 to 250 market-rate apartments of varying size, said Chuck Erickson, Greenfield community development manager.
Representatives from Fiduciary could not be reached for comment.
Greenfield has already created a tax incremental financing district for the 27th Street area, but the city is considering hiring financial consultant Ehlers to conduct a study whether it makes sense to provide Fiduciary with a “pay as you go,” TIF incentive for the project. If the city were to enter into such agreement, the developer would pay for the upfront financing of the project and the city would pay the developer back annually as property taxes were paid by the residents of the apartments, until the initial investment was paid off.
The city’s finance committee will consider hiring Ehlers March 9.
Erickson said he expects that once the financing component is decided, formal plans for the project will be submitted to the city’s plan commission.
The land is currently zoned for senior apartments. Years ago, Reardon was working with another developer to build senior apartments at the site, but that project fell through, Erickson said.
Zoning would have to change for market-rate apartments to proceed, Erickson said.
The Historic 41 BID, a joint effort of the Milwaukee Business Improvement District 43 and Greenfield Business improvement Districts 1 and 2, has been working diligently for several years to improve retail and residential development along South 27th street.
Erickson said this type of project is in sync with what the BID is trying to do.
“If a project like this moves forward it gets more wheels on the street and that is always a good thing,” Erickson said. “Folks living there can take advantage of nearby services, restaurants, buying a car, going bowling. 27th Street has the full gamut of what folks are looking for.”
