Milwaukee-based Cobalt Partners LLC says work will commence "immediately" on its $84 million development in Bayside following village approval of a $34.9 million financing incentive last week. Cobalt Partners and Bayside-based La Macchia Holdings LLC
plan to redevelop 27.4 acres northwest of Brown Deer and Port Washington roads into a mix of uses, including offices, retail, restaurants, residential, a hotel and a new North Shore Library location. Last week, the Village Board approved financial incentives for the project by way of creating a tax incremental financing district. It is the village's first TIF district. "Demolition is commencing immediately, with infrastructure to commence in spring," said Scott Yauck, president and chief executive of Cobalt. The first structure to go up will contain the new North Shore Library and apartments above it. Construction of that building will commence by summer, Yauck said in an email. The TIF incentive will help pay for things like new infrastructure, site work and traffic-safety improvements, according to village documents. The village anticipates the project will create about $84.2 million in new property value. It also expects the TIF district to generate enough new property tax revenues to pay for the incentive within 19 years. Cobalt and La MacchiaÂ
introduced their first set of plans, featuring a 30-story residential tower, for the 27-acre site in 2018. Those plans were met with criticism from residents, and didn’t move forward. TheyÂ
tried again the following year, this time proposing an apartment tower at the site that would not exceed 15 stories. But those plansÂ
were withdrawn just a few months later. The latest version of this development is less dense, does not include a high-rise and offers a variety of housing styles, Yauck said in a previous interview. Plans call for, among other things, 300,000 square feet of new office space, a 100-room hotel and up to 650 residential units, which would be a mix of apartments and townhouse-style units.
