The city of Milwaukee’s Department of Neighborhood Services recently issued an order closing down the Firestone Complete Auto Care store at 601 W. Wells St. in downtown Milwaukee.
The story was first reported by onmilwaukee.com, a media partner of BizTimes Milwaukee.
The store is connected to a parking structure. The entire structure was built in 1972.
The parking structure was shut down by the Department of Neighborhood Services in February because of safety concerns with the structure, said DNS operations manager Tom Mishefske. The Firestone store was allowed to stay open until recently.
The owner of the building, Dallas-based TTOW Properties LLC was ordered to get an expert review of the condition of the structure, Mishefske said. That report raised more concerns about the safety of the structure, prompting DNS to close down the Firestore store, he said.
The report indicates there are cracks in concrete and beams in the parking structure, which put the Firestone store at risk, Mishefske said.
The city plans to issue a condemnation order for the building, Mishefske said. The building owner will be required to fix the problems to the structure, or tear it down. If the building owner does nothing the city could tear the building down and charge the property owner on their property tax bill, he said.
Demolition of the structure would open up a potential development site at the southwest corner of West Wells Street and 6th Street, just west of the Frontier Airlines Center. However, the area west of the Milwaukee River in downtown Milwaukee has struggled for years to attract development.
