In hopes of taking their residents from “living to thriving,” Milwaukee’s Center for Veterans Issues (CVI) is renovating and expanding their Vets Place Central location in a $21 million project.
Located on Milwaukee’s west side and operated by CVI, Vets Place Central, at 3330 W. Wells St., has provided housing and other wrap-around reintegration services to veterans for nearly 30 years. However, the aging facility has limited how many veterans CVI can care for and hampered their experience, CVI leaders said.
CVI held a groundbreaking celebration Friday for the project, which will include a 53,000-square-foot rear expansion that will increase the nonprofit’s capacity to 81 single-room occupancy units, up from the current 32.
Currently, Vets Place Central provides housing for 74 veterans who are unhoused, often doubled-up in rooms intended for an individual.
“Sometimes we were five, six, seven people per room,” said John Cornell, board chair of CVI. “Our residents were living, but they weren’t really thriving. We want to be able to give them the privacy, the space that they need and deserve.”
The project will include a renovation of the existing Vets Place Central building, adding enhanced community space like a fitness center, cafeteria, and library, among other spaces. 68 rooms will remain supportive housing where veterans can reside for up to two years and the remaining 13 rooms will provide long-term housing.
“This facility serves as a critical bridge between emergency shelter and permanent housing,” explained Berdie Cowser vice president of housing and development at CVI. “Here, veterans develop the stability, confidence and coping skills needed for long term success. This expansion is about continuing and enhancing a vital mission that began decades ago.”
With financing from Federal Low Income Housing Tax Credits and the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs, the project team also tapped into financing from the Federal Home Loan Bank of Chicago, the HOME Depot Foundation, Greater Milwaukee Foundation and Local Initiatives Support Corp. (LISC), among several others, to round out its capital stack.
The project’s consulting developer is Fitchburg-based firm The Alexander Co., along with Milwaukee’s Kelly Construction and Design as the general contractor and Wauwatosa’s Galbraith Carnahan Architects. CVI manages 101 supportive housing units at the Milwaukee Soldiers Home on the VA grounds in six historic buildings that were restored by The Alexander Co.
Demolition and construction work began in August, and the project team is estimating a late 2025 reopening. In the meantime, CVI and its partners are looking to fill the remaining $1.1 million funding gap that will support the costs from moving residents and staff to a new location during construction and buying new furniture for the expanded Vets Place Central.
“By supporting veterans in their journey to stability, we’re strengthening our entire community,” Mayor Cavalier Johnson said. “Every veteran who transitions successfully through this program represents a victory for Milwaukee.”
