A massive affordable housing project in Milwaukee’s Bay View neighborhood is set to start construction later this summer.
Located at the former Filer & Stowell complex site, at 123 and 147 E. Becher St., Kenosha-based Bear Development is embarking on a 576-unit project.
The development plans have changed dramatically since first proposed in 2020. The number of apartment units has almost doubled, and all of the existing buildings are now set to be taken down rather than rehabilitated.
Eight five-story buildings will line the 10-acre rectangular site, which extends from Becher Street to Lincoln Avenue. 408 surface parking spaces will sit on the edges of the site with an additional 195 covered spaces located on the first floors of the buildings.
A mix of one and two-bedroom apartment units would be set aside for households making less than 40% to 80% of the regional median income, with about 400 units set aside for those making below the 60% threshold, according to Bear Development CEO S.R. Mills.
“There’s significant demand in that workforce-affordable-senior realm,” Mills said. “It’s a great site with accessibility to the freeway, downtown. We think it will do very well and that’s part of why we’re comfortable with the unit mix that we have.”
Further, 144 units would be for seniors 55 and older.
“In discussing with the alderwoman, as well as a lot of the neighborhood, we identified a need for senior housing,” Mills said.
The redevelopment will cost close to $200 million. That’s up from the $100 million estimated originally—a result of rising construction costs, rising capital costs and, of course, expanding the project, according to Mills.
“None of these developments are easy, certainly including this one,” said Mills. “We’re excited that we can get it to work and we can financially have it make sense.”
The project received an $835,000 grant from the Milwaukee Housing Trust Fund and $1.8 million from the Federal Home Loan Bank of Chicago, among others.
The decision to deconstruct the historic buildings on the site, some of which date back to 1890, was made after more than a year of inspecting the buildings, which have most recently been used for boat storage.
“It took a long time to clean out those buildings and many of them were in really dilapidated shape that just wouldn’t allow us to proceed with the historic redevelopment,” Mills said. “With that said, part of what we’re really focused on is ensuring that we repurpose many of the materials from demolition.”
Bear recently filed for city permits to begin deconstructing the buildings, a process that will focus on recycling the building materials.
Bear Development has previously developed the 700 Lofts on West Michigan Street in downtown Milwaukee and has recently begun construction work on Michigan Street Commons, the first building in its $160 million Iron District development.
