A seven-story apartment building planned near the Downer Avenue business district on Milwaukee's East Side received initial approval Monday.
Milwaukee-based
Bayside Development is proposing a building with 65 one- and two-bedroom market-rate units on a long-vacant lot at 2560 N. Stowell Ave., half a block west of Downer Avenue.
Bayside is operated by developer and real estate investor
Thomas Schafer, who also is an owner of the nearby Pizza Man restaurant on Downer Avenue.
The Stowell Avenue building, designed by Milwaukee's
Stephen Perry Smith Architects, would have apartments on six floors, all with balconies, and a second floor outdoor amenity space. The building would provide 81 parking spaces on the ground floor and underground, which is about a 1.25 ratio.
Some neighbors voiced opposition to the development's size and parking provisions, saying it will add traffic and parking complications to an already congested area. City staff suggested working with operators of an underused nearby parking garage at 2584 N. Downer Ave. to provide additional parking, but said the proposal as-is complies with city ordinances.
The proposed development received recommended zoning approval Monday from the Plan Commission, but the commission asked that the developers study where trash will be collected, the possibility of pedestrian safety measures at the entrance and exits of the building's parking garage and the need for loading zones.
The project will next need approval from the Zoning, Neighborhoods and Development Committee, which the development team plans to present in April after a new council member representing the East Side is elected. That seat is open after Ald. Jonathan Brostoff's November death.
The project will then need Common Council approval before construction can begin. The development team estimates construction will take between nine and 11 months.
The 19,800-square-foot lot, at the corner of North Stowell Avenue and East Webster Place, has been vacant for several years and was sometimes used for parking, though it was not authorized as such.
A Bayside Development affiliate purchased the site in November for $1.65 million from Milwaukee-based Van Buren Management, according to state property records.
