Kenosha-based
Bear Development is pursuing a mixed-use redevelopment project for 10 acres consisting mainly of boat storage warehouses southeast of East Becher and South First streets in Milwaukee's Bay View neighborhood and the city's Harbor District.
If Bear's plans move forward, they would be only the latest major project in a part of town that's red hot with development activity.
According to an application filed with the city, the project includes properties at 123 and 147 E. Becher St. Bear is seeking to rezone the properties to allow a mix of uses at the site. Application documents did not provide further details of the developer's plans.
The development site is currently home to the
Southwind Marine LLC boat storage facility. Southwind Marine owner Brian Read owns both Becher Street properties under separate ownership groups. The two long, rectangular properties extend from Becher Street south to West Lincoln Avenue.
The site consists of several warehouse buildings and an office building that altogether total 211,100 square feet. The office building is roughly 18,100 square feet. The warehouse buildings total more than 193,000 square feet, with the largest of those being a 82,300-square-foot, single-story warehouse. Among the buildings is the historic
Filer & Stowell woodworking and pattern shop, a three-story brick industrial loft built in 1895, according to Wisconsin Historical Society records.
Representatives of Bear Development were not immediately available for comment.
The properties are in an intriguing area of the city. They are cater-cornered to Brownsville-based Michels Corp.'s
$100 million mixed-use project known as
R1VER. It's also just south of the former Commercial Heat Treating Plant at 1958-1972 S. First St., where Wauwatosa-based developer Wangard Partners
plans to develop 200 apartment units.
It is also just west of the commercial corridor of South Kinnickinnic Avenue, which has seen a fair number of multi-family and commercial projects in recent years. And across a set of railroad tracks from the site are the Stitchweld Apartments at 2141-2181 S. Robinson Ave., which were
acquired by a Washington-based investor last fall for a hefty $54.3 million.
