Hoping to benefit from the dearth of new condos in Milwaukee, a development firm is proposing 15 for-sale townhomes, the first development of its kind in the area in more than a decade.
Milwaukee-based Cirrus Property Group, a development firm founded last year, received approval from Milwaukee’s Zoning, Neighborhoods and Development Committee Tuesday to build 15 townhome units at 1524-1546 N. Jefferson St.
The development would offer a transition from the higher-density buildings that were part of the North End development to the west and lower density development to the east.
“We’ve not seen much condo development since the (Great) recession,” Milwaukee Planning Director Sam Leichtling told the committee Tuesday. “We’re pleased that the development community is showing interest in re-kickstarting that market.”
Known as the Fifteens at Park East, the units would be about 2,000 square feet each with three bedrooms and between 2.5 and 3.5 bathrooms. They would also include a two-car garage on the first floor, a private balcony on the second floor and optional rooftop patio above the third floor, plans show.
Cirrus is under contract to purchase the half-acre project site that currently has a vacant office building the firm would raze. The site is currently owned by Josh Delaney of Apachii Capital LLC, a Milwaukee entrepreneur who previously planned to build an office for his company and four townhomes, but the project never moved forward.
Sale prices have not yet been determined, but the firm is hoping to keep the units below $1 million, according to Daniel Hasbani, Cirrus Property Group vice president of development. The group is eyeing professionals with two incomes and retired people as potential buyers.
The firm is planning on building out the project in up to five phases as the units sell, which is one way Hasbani said the firm has been able to get a condo project moving amid hesitancy from banks to lend to urban condo projects amid a period of inflated construction costs.
“One of the challenges in condominium development is achieving the pre-sales required to have the deal financed by a bank,” Hasbani said. “(Phasing the development will) limit risk as much as possible.”
The city of Milwaukee has about 11,000 condo units, representing 4% of the city’s housing stock, according to city documents, but most of those were built in the 1970s and 2000s during two major condo booms. Development of new condos dried up by about 2011 after the housing bubble burst triggering the Great Recession.
Recently, however, two new condo projects have emerged in the downtown Milwaueke area, including Cirrus’ project and a 13-unit project in the Historic Third Ward planned by Milwaukee-based Renner Architects.
