Seeing a void of market-rate apartments in the Granville area on Milwaukee’s far northwest side, a Florida developer is planning to build 220 new apartments there targeting the young professional and empty nester demographics. Presenting at the Granville Advisory Committee on Wednesday, Miami-based AB Asset Management said it wants to develop 4 acres of land
Seeing a void of market-rate apartments in the Granville area on Milwaukee's far northwest side, a Florida developer is planning to build 220 new apartments there targeting the young professional and empty nester demographics.
Presenting at the Granville Advisory Committee on Wednesday, Miami-based AB Asset Management said it wants to develop 4 acres of land at 8482 N. 76th St.
That's just north of Sycamore Place, which is a 322-unit complex divided into a nursing home, assisted living facility and market-rate apartments. Last year, AB Asset Management began a $5 million upgrade to 170 of those mostly-vacant units, converting them from age-restricted to market-rate.
"The new market-rate apartments have been tremendously successful in allowing young professionals and empty nesters from the northwest side to have an option to live in their neighborhood rather than moving downtown or to the suburbs," said Mike D'Amato, company representative and former Milwaukee alderman.
Now, the developers are proposing to build two new four-story buildings with around 220 apartment units on the property adjacent to Sycamore Place.
According to a market study, there's demand for about 500 market-rate housing units on the northwest side, partially due to the presence of large employers.
The study also found that there is enough supply of senior housing in the area and, further, the area is "well served" with affordable housing.
"We want housing diversification," D'Amato said. "In some places that means we need more affordable housing. In other places it means we need more market rate housing."
Plans are in early stages, but the units would be a mix of one-, two-, and three-bedroom apartments with rents ranging from about $1,000 to $1,800. The apartments would have about 330 parking spaces split between surface lots and spaces under the buildings.
"If you want buildings like this, with these amenities, you cannot find them on the northwest side," D'Amato said. "You have to go to the suburbs or downtown. The northwest side is being discovered as a great place to live with a lot of open space, a lot of services nearby. We think we can take advantage of that."
The proposed development site is currently zoned for single family housing, so the project will need to receive rezoning approval from the city.
[caption id="attachment_575726" align="aligncenter" width="1279"] The property at 8482 N. 76th St. Image from Google Maps[/caption]
